Poké Wars: The Incalescence
by Cornova
Summary: Towns and cities, now a string of funeral pyres, lie behind and beyond us. As we make our way through each settlement made cinders, our strength begins to falter. Horrified, we're hoping, praying for answers at the elusive horizon. Will things ever be normal again? Will we? And if we ever find out what's doing this, what could we even do to stop it?
1. We Didn't Start the Pyre

**Major props to Zarrelion for his contributions to this chapter. I also urge all of you to please check out another one of his contributions to the Poke Wars series: The Files of Dr. Kaminko. If you haven't read it yet then you're in for a treat as it plans on going into the specs of the various vehicles that will be used in poke wars. I personally loved how it was written and I think you will to. **

**On another note, there's a relatively new site called Poke Manics on the internet. It's a web discussion board that I've been asked to be a part of. There are a lot of neat features to the site like the role playing section. I highly recommend you check it out, you may find something there you really like.**

**I would also like to dedicate this arc to Dacutesnowbunnies as a thank you for her illustrated version of the Exigence. She's been a little busy lately with school and life but check out her stuff at deviantart and send some love her way if you can.  
**

**This is kinda gonna be like the Convalescence where I'm posting this more as a sneak peak at the next Johto arc. I can't promise that I'll be updating this again soon, but it does allow for me to already have a foothold to update. Plus I owe you guys a few chapters considering I was gone for a few months. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I found it really fun to write. **

* * *

**August 23**

* * *

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Why're we still here?" Banette asked.

Cacturne was silent for a long moment, staring off into the distance as he mulled over his next words. "That's the big question, isn't it? Why are we still here? Was it our skill alone that let us make it out of the city and through those Ursaring alive? Was it just luck that the group of Houndoom we encountered are helping us survive instead of tearing us to pieces? Is all of this happening for a reason and we're meant for something greater? I don't know Bane."

Cacturne sighed and held his head. "I just don't know. What I do know is that I'm glad to be alive today and see another beautiful morning like this." He gazed at the golden corona of sunrise inching across the sky and crowning the distant mountain range.

It wasn't long before Cacturne realized his friend had been quiet for far too long.

Banette and quiet didn't mix.

Ever.

"Wow… that was…deep… " Banette's zipper smile widened. "And lame!" His level tone eventually devolved into snickers.

"_That's what I get for letting my guard down around you_." Cacturne mentally sighed.

"Didn't peg you for such a softy. What was all that all about anyway?"

"Nothing!" Cacturne swiftly replied.

"You sure?"

"Yep."

Banette smiled again. "…Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"Fine." The marionette allowed his smile to shrink. And for once, he sounded serious. "But seriously, why are we still here? Our shift's over."

"Why're you so eager to leave?" Cacturne demanded. "You don't sleep!"

"Doesn't mean I don't get tired. 'Sides, thought I'd do you a favor."

"You? Doing me a favor?" Cacturne said, turning to face the ghost.

"I do nice things…sometimes. Anyway I thought I'd be a true bro and give a chance ta mingle with Rosey."

"Don't call her that!" the living cactus snapped.

Banette looked askance. "Whaaat. Masquerain calls her that all the time."

"And it pisses her off! You want an ass full of grass, be my guest! Just don't get me involved! Anyway, he can call her that, they're on the same team," Cacturne grumbled. He turned towards the direction of the camp and took the first few steps.

"We're all a giant joint-party thing or something now, did you forget?" Banette asked as he followed suit.

"No… I didn't forget," the scarecrow mumbled. He silently hoped that the conversation would starve in the elongating silence.

"This is a touchy subject you isn't it?" The marionette snickered. He grinned deviously as a single black digit tapped the upper edge of his golden zipper mouth.

Only the crunch of gravel answered him back. As was usual for his kind of pokémon, the lack of reaction irked him. A scowl morphed into a smile as he deployed his ace in the hole.

"You like her, don't you?"

Cacturne did his best not to flinch; the slightest hints from his body language would give the ghost more ammunition to use against him. "What I think about her doesn't matter," he replied, his tone cool and neutral. He made sure not to make eye contact with the marionette.

"That wasn't a 'no'!" Banette said with a smile, spinning through the air as he orbited the scarecrow. "You know how to make me stop!"

Every revolution around Cacturne's head brought on the same singsong chant from the ghost. Harley's starter sighed and stopped walking, watching the haunted toy hold his hand by an imaginary ear as he floated closer to him, his head tilted back expectantly as if awaiting to hear a secret.

"Imighliker," Cacturne mumbled quickly under his breath; a futile hope in his heart that the rapid and quiet confession would sate the ghost.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you!" Banette held a hand to his non-existent ear. "Enunciate please!"

Cacturne wondered if the sand rushing to his face would fuse into glass from the combined heat of his rage and embarrassment.

"I…might…like her," he said between gritted teeth, to which Banette began doing celebratory backflips in the air.

"See? Was that so hard?" Banette's zipper smile widened.

"A little. I died a bit on the inside."

"Oh come on! This is a good start."

"A start for what? This doesn't mean she likes me back!" Cacturne snapped. He gestured with his arm at the desolate wasteland surrounding them. "Besides, the apocalypse isn't conducive for relationships."

"Or maybe it's the best time. We're heading out today and who knows what's out there? I'm not saying anything's gonna happen but this may be the only time you get a chance to let someone know how you feel before it's too late."

Cacturne simply stared at the phantom puppet, wondering where that spark of insight had come from.

"That was surprisingly intelligent," Cacturne said before he started to walk again, filling the air with the sound of crunching gravel.

"I take offense to that!" Banette replied in mock pain as he resumed shadowing the cactus. "So when are you guys gonna tie the Grass Knot?"

Cacturne whirled around, giving the ghost a glare that could've melted a Steelix hide. "Two things," he said, his voice a low growl. "One: you sound smarter when you're quiet. Two: shut up about things you know nothing about."

"I know things!" Banette countered. "I mean; I know how it works for you grass-types. Ya take your stamen and stick it in her pis—"

"I'm not hearing this!" Cacturne chanted, pressing his stubby arms to the sides of his head to drown out Banette's undoubtedly obscene explanation of grass-type reproduction. "I don't know what's worse: listening to you or going out into the wasteland and getting ripped apart."

"Yeesh! Relax! You act like we're gonna drop dead the second we walk outta here. I'm sure we can take on whatever's out there."

"Like you handled the Golem?" Cacturne replied.

"Details." Banette waved his hand dismissively. "Besides, we have the whole group now instead of leaving half of to take care of Harley and the others."

"You are aware that Harley and the others can't really defend themselves?" Cacturne said. "And we still don't know what's out in the wasteland. And there's whatever scared the Houndoom into submission."

"I'm sure we'll be fine. And for the record, I know you love my company. Why else would hang around me so much?"

"We're nocturnal and someone has to keep watch at night." Cacturne stopped as Banette did so.

"Or…" Banette held up a finger and gave a thoughtful pause. "You're a secret masochist and ya can't get enough of me! I can't blame ya though. Ya know what they say, 'no Bane, no gain'."

"Nobody says that!"

"Give it time." The ghost shrugged and continued on his path, to which Cacturne sighed and pressed a stub against his face, dragging it down slowly. Letting out another sigh, he followed the haunted toy.

"Oh come on!" the marionette exclaimed. "I'd figure I'm at least better company than Octi. Nice guy and all, but he's a bit slow. Dumb as a rock-type."

"Be nice!" Cacturne chided halfheartedly.

"Fine. New subject. When you and her get sprouts, you gotta get'em to call me Uncle Baney."

Cacturne stopped and fixed him with a withering glare. "Bane, if I ever have kids, I'm not letting them near you!"

Banette's zipper mouth opened in shock as he stared at the cactus. "What!?" he exclaimed, seeming hurt by the statement "I'm great with kids!"

"Somehow, I really doubt that."

"Okay, so my kind have some abandonment issues! But I'm different."

"Really?" The scarecrow gave a deadpan stare.

"Yeah," Banette replied; his tone lower than usual and devoid of his usual endless mirth. "For one, I never bothered looking for my owner."

"Your owner?" Cacturne responded.

Banette wagged his finger. "That, my thorny friend, can wait for another night." The marionette's voice trailed off into silence.

Cacturne stared at the ghost for a few seconds. In contrast to Banette's usual lack of a filter between his brain and mouth (his long and profane explanation about grass-type reproduction was testament to that); it was as if this particular thought were locked in a vault.

It quickly dawned on him that as much time as he spent with the haunted toy, their time before being caught by Harley was never a topic that had been brought up. Figuring that Banette's past was a sensitive subject he wasn't privy to, he decided to not peer into the vault.

The sudden change in ground beneath his feet reminded him that in his ruminations, he walked right into their encampment without realizing it.

* * *

"Where do we go from here?" Harley's question successfully stilled all movement around the campfire. Drew's spoon was halfway up to his mouth before he lowered the contents back into the bowl. It had been a quiet meal with little room for small talk, save for the occasional compliment to Harley when they weren't scarfing down the food.

Harley had been practically glowing from the praise until something in his mind had drained the light from his demeanor. One thought lead to another and his smile had disappeared. The plan had been simple before: survive. There hadn't been room for much of anything else. Now that they had rested, eaten and gotten security from their pokémon and the Houndoom pack, they had the luxury of thinking of other more pressing issues.

"I used all the perishable items we got in our meal today. There's still some things left, but we're gonna need to restock in the next town soon," Harley said.

"We need to find the next town and let them know what happened if they don't already know. I was thinking of calling my family and letting them know I'm okay," May added.

Drew and Harley nodded when May's eyes landed on theirs. It was only when she met Whitney's gaze that she felt a surge of guilt coalesce like a stone in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't considered the gym leader with them when she'd spoken; hadn't thought of the effect her words might've had on the only other survivor of the city they'd escaped from. The source of May's silence was plain to see and with no words of comfort forthcoming in their minds the other two coordinators remained silent and focused on the grass.

Whitney could tell the tension in the air was because of her. If she didn't speak up, the tension would eventually build until it snapped like an overstretched cable.

The former Goldenrod City gym leader took a deep breath. "Uncle Milton was the last family I had left, so I don't have anywhere else to go right now. Part of me wants to go back and start over on the ranch, but I doubt there's anything left of the fields or even Goldenrod.

"Then again, I think starting over there would be too painful. I don't really have the money to build the entire ranch from scratch, at least not all at once. I can't think of any places right now that would be good to start even if I did. These last few days…I haven't been able to think about anything past what happened to us, so I haven't given much thought as to what I want to do with myself after all of this. I was hoping…I could tag along with you guys until I figured that out."

Whitney's voice was fragile and small; her fists trembled slightly as she gripped the hem of her skirt for some kind of leverage. May's eyes began to shimmer at the sight of the pinkette, struggling to hold an onset of tears inside. Whitney had seen her home, her family and her livelihood reduced to cinders on the wind before her very eyes; what could they say to someone who was the last survivor of their family?

Whitney's gaze eventually lifted and found three nodding faces and weak smiles. No one could fathom the idea of saying "no" to her.

"What say we leave today then?" Harley asked. "If we head out in an hour we might be able to make it to the next town before it gets dark."

Everyone hummed softly in approval, finishing the last bits of their meal and moving to gather their things. Harley had the most in terms of belongings. If the "borrowed" cooking utensils were to be considered his. The others immediately offered to carry some of the load, seeing as all they had were the tattered clothes on their backs and a few keepsakes.

* * *

Once packed, they told their pokémon their plans to leave and to say their final goodbyes to the Houndoom. At the same time, they made the arrangements of who to keep outside. Harley's party was given the night shift, seeing as they worked best in the darkness of night and were nocturnal by nature — with the exception of Octillery.

It had been agreed that they would keep at least one pokémon out at all times to guard them. The number had to be carefully chosen; too few pokémon would attract hostiles looking for a weak target. Too many pokémon would attract hostiles looking for a challenge. Choosing the pokémon was no easy task either. Some of their pokémon were suited for long-distance hiking but were not strong fighters. Others were powerful, but lacked the stamina for grueling marches. Munchlax and Venusaur were examples of the latter.

After some deliberation it had been decided that Blaziken would be May's guard. Glaceon guarded Harley. Drew's guard was his Masquerain. Roserade was to guard Whitney. Everyone else would be returned. But if the situation called for their support, they would be deployed.

* * *

With that, all that was left was to say their own goodbyes to the Houndoom and thank them for their help. Within moments, the dark pack assembled before as they made their way out of the clearing. For a moment, dark thoughts about the Houndoom arose; about how they would never let them leave. Their fears were quickly settled when the small sea of black fur parted to form a pathway.

The Alpha remained at the forefront of the group, holding something in his mouth as he made his way over to them. Blaziken moved ahead to intercept the pack's leader and quickly found the item in the Alpha's mouth being pressed into his claw.

May and the others remained silent throughout the entire exchange, unsure as to what was happening, but knowing that it was somehow significant. The fire starter stared quizzically at the item in his palm, still somewhat damp from being in the Alpha's mouth. Three equidistant slices had been made along the length of the worn and darkened wood. It was smooth to the touch; having been carved into shape by what Blaziken could only imagine was human hands. It was half a foot long and an inch thick but no matter how Blaziken looked at it, all he saw was a stick.

"What is this?" Blaziken asked innocently.

"A gift." The Alpha's response was simple and to the point.

"A…gift?"

"Yes. It was given to us when our pack had just formed. At the time we had been fooled by the humans into believing it was food. In the end, those very same humans were what allowed our pack to survive and make it this far. We have treasured it as a symbol of our friendship with them. It seems only fitting that it be returned to your group after what has transpired."

"Uh…thank you for this gift," Blaziken replied, unsure as to what to do and how to hold their token of friendship.

The Alpha smiled, other Houndoom in the pack began to snicker at some inside joke that Blaziken was not privy to.

The Alpha continued. "Do not be fooled by the stick's simple appearance for it is more than a mere symbol of friendship. It has been imbued with our scent and will let others know that you are friends of our pack and under our protection. I cannot promise you how far that protection will extend among my own kind. As for other pokémon, I cannot say anything about them but at the very least those that would be hostile to you will hesitate to attack you or be thrown off by the mixed scent.

"Thank you," Blaziken said in earnest, bowing slightly as he spoke.

"You are most welcome, friend. I hope that our paths may cross once more. Hopefully in better times. Please send my regards to Banette and Cacturne. Also, two of my runners will guide you down the safest path to the next town."

"We can't thank you enough for all that you and your pack have done."

"Think nothing of it. Were it not for the efforts of you and your group, we would not be speaking here today."

Blaziken made his way over to May, clearly confused as to what had just happened between her starter and the retreating Alpha. She did not expect for him to hold out his claw, offering the wooden token in one claw while gesturing towards the blanket she had repurposed into a traveling sack.

"Uh, okay. In here then." May eventually connected what Blaziken wanted and began unraveling the blanket to allow the wooden trinket inside. With a nod, he turned to find the entire Houndoom pack now missing, save for the two runners the Alpha had promised.

"Even in broad daylight," Blaziken muttered, hearing May and the others exclaim at the sudden disappearance.

* * *

The dark dog duo nodded and began to lead the way, May and the others quickly picked up on what was happening.

"What was that all about?" Harley whispered as they walked.

"I'm not really sure," May replied.

"What exactly did they give you?" Drew asked, voicing a question that had been on everyone's mind.

"I don't know…it…it kinda looks like a wooden hotdog…"

* * *

The walk to the next town was not a long one, nor was it difficult to follow. The dirt path they took hugged the mountainside and was bordered by the outer fringes of the forest. Despite the incredible sensory capabilities of the Houndoom, May and Drew's pokémon refused to lower their guard.

Masquerain had taken the lead, hoping his wing coloration would intimidate any potential attackers that saw them coming. Glaceon and Roserade guarded the flanks while Blaziken brought up the rear. The trip seemed to be going perfectly well when both Houndoom raised their heads abruptly and stopped in their tracks.

"What's wrong guys?" Masquerain called out. Having only heard only snippets of their hushed conversation, he wanted the full story.

"Do you smell—"

"—You don't think—"

"—He can't have—"

"—We would've—"

"The rain!"

The Houndoom burst forward, not bothering to see if the others were following. Blaziken was tempted to bolt after them, his hand lifted up halfway before it fell to his side as he turned to face the rest of the group. There was no way for the others to keep up with him and the Houndoom if he went after them.

"_Blaziken, there's a time and place for everything, but not now._" Miltank's voice echoed through his mind the moment he realized that his leg was still healing.

"Where do you think they're going?" May asked aloud, her eyes cautiously scanning the forest.

"They could just be scouting ahead," Drew offered.

"What do you think, Blaziken?" Roserade whispered.

"I don't think it's an enemy, otherwise they would've asked us to help them. On top of that, their sense of smell would've tipped them off. It could just be what your coordinator said, they could just be scouting," Blaziken replied.

"I dunno about that. They seemed pretty spooked before they bolted," Masquerain said.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll meet up with them. I doubt they'd try to ditch us this early on. Unless we were already close to the town they mentioned," Glaceon said. "As if anticipating everyone's response, he added, "They probably want to avoid humans with pokéballs, being, you know, wild," Glaceon concluded. Everyone else nodded, save for their coordinators who were not privy to the conversation.

As their turned around the mountainside they found the Houndoom duo, standing side by side and staring into the distance. A familiar smell reached Blaziken's nose before it did anyone else's, although he couldn't quite pin down where he recognized it from.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Masquerain called out, only to be ignored completely. It wasn't until they drew closer that it began to dawn on them as to what the Houndoom were fixated on.

The world beyond the Houndoom was black and gray, as if the sterile landscape of the moon had replaced the world they knew. A field of ash broken only by a few stones stretched into infinity. May's gasp was the first noise that broke the stifling silence that hung over them.

Whitney's eyes began to shimmer, her lips moved to form words but no sound left them at first. Horrified whispers gave way to loud and incoherent screams. The nightmarish scenes she had struggled to repress in the coming days now unloaded on her like a bursting dam.

She teetered to a side before falling to her knees, hands clawing over her face as if trying to futilely mask the scene before her. Harley was the first to react and caught her before she hit the ground. He gently slid the distraught Whitney onto the ashen ground. The group's attention was torn from the scene to the sound of her hysteric cries, its significance finally dawning on them.

"Masq, do you think you could …" Roserade's bouquet motioned towards Whitney. The Eyeball pokémon slowly turned to face her, then eventually to the pinkette.

"Uh, yeah…Rosy, sure," he replied shakily, expecting her to snap at him like she always did when he shortened her name. But her rebuke never came. His upper wings trembled, the air around him taking on a rosy hue. Once a cloud of mist had formed, he flapped his lower wings and sent the pink cloud to waft over to the group. Whitney's cries grew weaker within seconds as her body curled into a tight ball.

Blaziken felt an oddly dissonant mixture of shock and tranquility. While Masquerain's Sweet Scent had its intended effect, the sight of the ashen fields served to counteract the calm aura that washed over him.

"What happened here?" he asked, approaching the Houndoom who still stood just outside the burnt boundary.

"We think that Entei may have done this," one replied, his ears dropping as he lowered his head to the ground in a gesture of mourning.

"Who's Entei?"

"A powerful pokémon that visited us not too long before you and your group arrived. He asked us to kill any humans we came across. We lied and he left us but we never thought he would've done this. The town was fine when we stole the food and items you needed. With that level of power he displayed, it couldn't be anyone but him that did this," the other Houndoom replied.

"This…this was the town you were taking us to?" The fire starter's gaze lifted to the sea of soot in horrified realization.

"I'm afraid so. We might've known if the rain hadn't blocked out the smell."

"The Alpha will not be pleased. These people were kind to us, they did not deserve this fate," the other Houndoom growled.

"I am sorry Blaziken. We agreed to take you as far as the human settlement and despite its state; we have done as we were told. We need to alert the Alpha as to what has happened." The first Houndoom sighed.

Blaziken nodded. "I understand. There isn't much more you can do for us now. We'll take it from here."

"Thank you." They both nodded before bursting past him. By the time he had turned around the tail end of their shadowy streaks were disappearing around the mountainside.

* * *

"Damn." Banette released the breath he had been holding.

"You've been saying that for the last few hours," Cacturne said, unloading another round of spikes into the earth.

"Sorry."

Cacturne stared at the toy for a silent moment, unaccustomed to hearing genuine apologies from him.

"Bane, it's fine. Trust me, I know. This all—"

"Fucked up," the marionette replied, not so much as a suggestion as he was voicing his own thoughts.

"Yeah…" Cacturne replied, letting silence take the place of conversation.

The duo made their way around the encampment, setting up their routine nightly defenses. Ghostly blue embers ringed the toy's body, lighting their way and dissuading any onlookers from attacking them.

Blaziken had told them of what had happened in their absence as they had switched shifts. The group had taken the long way around the ash fields, far enough to avoid the smell and the sight of it for Whitney's sake. As if by an unspoken agreement, no one spoke about what they had seen, but their withheld questions seemed to scream in the deafening silence.

Blaziken had been worried about the language barrier making it difficult to explain what had happened, but he eventually learned that he'd given the humans far too little credit.

They'd immediately figured out that the hellscape they laid eyes upon was the remains of their next destination. It wasn't a random attack; the rest of the forest had remained untouched. Once they had found the main road again, a group went back only to find that it led back to the same barren wasteland.

Explaining to them that the source of the devastation was a Pokémon named Entei was the hard part. With little understanding of the symbols from the human language, they had no way of telling them what they knew. Playing charades with them would only waste valuable time. And even if communications could be opened, what purpose would it serve? Knowing the identity of the town's destroyer wouldn't cause the ashen plains to revert to a thriving town. There was also no guarantee that their coordinators would even recognize the name of the Pokémon that did this.

They kept making their way down the road, eventually stopping to make camp when the sun began to dip into the horizon. Clefable had been added to night watch, standing guard over the others while Banette accompanied Cacturne on his rounds. Depending on the moon's phase she could absorb its light if she had a clear view. In contrast to her usual method of locomotion, the Fairy pokémon was walking. The same energy that allowed her miniscule wings to defy gravity was also what fueled her attacks. And that last battle had completely drained her.

She greeted them with a wave of her arm and a smile once they drew closer. A wave of relief washed over her as she saw that they were unharmed.

"How are they?" Cacturne asked, peering over her to see the slumbering figures of their group.

"They're okay, just…disheartened," Clefable replied.

"Who wouldn't be?" seemed to be the unspoken answer among them before they switched topics.

"I noticed they were arguing about something before we left," Banette said.

"They were trying to decide where to go from here. Most of the rations that the Houndoom brought for had been used up before we parted ways. They had expected to be able to replenish their supplies in the next town. Unfortunately, as we saw, that plan was now impossible," Clefable replied.

"Maybe the next one migh—" Cacturne optimistically began until Clefable's sobering words shot them down.

"Will there be a next one? That's been the entire debate since you left. We could keep going and find the exact same thing in the next settlement. Or would could stay here for a bit and round up some food. We can't go back; we can't keep relying on the Houndoom. They probably have their own problems without having to worry about providing us with supplies."

"Is there any guarantee that the next town isn't razed?" Cacturne countered.

"Is there any guarantee that it isn't?"

Seeing as the fairy's stinging retort had won the debate, Cacturne relented and changed subjects. "What did they decide in the end?"

"They're going to keep moving. Banette, do you think you could find some berries so that they can have something to make the trip?" The ghost gave a mock salute and a weak smile before flying off into the darkness of the woods.

"How's she doing?" Cacturne eventually asked.

Clefable let out a breath. "She's…better than she was earlier. Seeing that kind of desolation hit a little too close to home."

Cacturne shook his head and sighed. "For her sake I hope the next town is still there. I figure she can't take much more of this."

"She'll make it."

"You sound so sure."

Clefable nodded. "I'm still making it. Goldenrod and the ranch were my home too. At least she's still surrounded by her kind."

"You've got us," Cacturne replied. Clefable gave him a thoughtful smile. He stared at the stars with her. The night sky with its pinpricks of light was no longer just a scene of tranquil beauty. It was then that he suddenly felt so very small next to the infinite void of the cosmos.

"For what it's worth, thanks." Clefable smiled. "You've taken to everything we've been through better than I thought you would," Clefable added

"I've been through and seen weirder."

"Oh?" The fairy's interest had now been piqued as she looked intently at the scarecrow.

Cacturne sighed. "I have sand instead of blood; my attacks can now kill. And as much as I hate to admit it, my best friend is probably that deranged ghost we cried over...just before he came back from the dead."

"I knew you cared!" Banette cackled in the distance.

"Damn it!"


	2. Are We There Yet?

I** wanna thank zarrelion for helping beta this chapter. I'd also like to make mention of a new story being done by one of my new writers. Poke Wars: The Remembrance by Agent of Chaos112. It's an interesting concept that I found really interesting so please give it a look and leave some of your thoughts. THere's another writer with another story but I will mention that story in the next chapter.**

* * *

**August 24**

* * *

"Masq?" the Bouquet pokémon whispered as she beckoned him over with her petals. Masquerain floated silently over the sleeping forms of the coordinators. He saw it fit to take a short break, seeing as he had already scanned the skies for any potential airborne threats. The morning sun had yet to break the leafy crest of the forest around them but Banette, Clefable and Cacturne had turned in earlier than usual.

"Yes Rosey?" he whispered back as he hovered over to her.

Seeing as she was going to be asking him a favor, Roserade let the mention of her nickname slide. "Are you busy right now?" she asked after a brief sigh.

Masquerain slowly rotated his entire body in place before facing her once more. "I dunno, Rosey. I'm in the middle of some hardcore floating right now, can it wait?"

"I need your help with something. Ask Octillery if he can take over for you."

"Psst. Yo, Octi!" Masquerain called out.

Their designated anti-air artillery lazily looked at him.

"Think you can watch the skies while I'm out for a bit?"

Octillery's half-lidded eyes stared at him for a moment before he slowly nodded back.

"Well you heard—err, saw him. Let's go." Masquerain smiled.

Roserade continued until she reached the shade beneath the trees, just before the perimeter of Cacturne's half-buried caltrops.

"So how can I help?"

"Yesterday, the way you helped Miltank's trainer. I want to be able to do that too," Roserade said.

"Sweet Scent? Huh, well I guess you should be able to do it. But why?"

"When that girl saw what was left of the town and when Cacturne found out what happened to Banette…I realized that even though I know how powerful I am, I feel like I still can't do anything. All the things we were good at don't mean anything here and even the things we can do can't help us if our coordinators are hurting. But you, you were able to do something for that trainer." It was a cathartic experience, airing out her feelings about the situation they found themselves in.

"You know I would've tried with Cacturne but—"

"—he's a grass type, I know. It wouldn't have been as effective on him as it is on non-grass types. You don't have to try and defend yourself there," Roserade said with a sigh. "Just teach me how you do it."

Masquerain stared at her for a bit, his eyes shifting to her bouquets as if assessing if they would be up to the task. When their eyes met again he smiled warmly. At first. Mere seconds ticked by before the warm smile was replaced by a smirk. "I never thought I'd see the day. _The Roserade _asking us common pokémon for help."

"Oh don't you start. I get enough of that from Banette. Honestly, have you two been spending time together?" A tinge of mild fear now showed in her eyes at the possibility.

"Not really, we have different shifts." A relieved expression appeared on Roserade's face for a split second before Masquerain's next words wiped it away. "But I do hear things here and there. Anyway, if I'm gonna do this for you, d'ya mind teaching me something from your repertoire?"

"Oh? Well…I mean…I'd be happy to. I just…was there something you had in mind?"

"Your Solarbeam. I think I can do it and I figured you could give me a few pointers."

Roserade put her blue bouquet to her chin, a pensive expression blossoming on her face. In the last few days they had stumbled across the fact that moves they thought they had forgotten were coming back to them easily. While it did open several possibilities in future confrontations, they had grown so used to only using four moves that integrating the new ones into their fighting style would take some getting used to.

Furthermore, they could learn moves that were related to what they already knew — even if they could not learn them before. For example, Octillery's Fire Blast could become Flamethrower or Ember. To top it all off, after spending some time watching Glaceon and Munchlax, he had eventually also learned how to also use Ice Beam and Solarbeam respectively.

"It wouldn't be too hard," Roserade replied. "But I'm not sure why you would want to learn that move in particular. It's powerful, but slow. I mean, I could teach it to you but you need to know that it has to charge before you can use it."

"I know," Masquerain said. His eyes then lit up. "But I was thinking that you and I could do Solar Beam together. Maybe form into a helix or something cool and wipe out our opponents. It's big. It's flashy. And it could be our finishing move at the next contest we do together."

The last words from Masquerain's mouth took her by surprise. Despite her attempts to keep her expression neutral, a gasp and an open-mouthed expression betrayed her reaction to his words.

Seconds awkwardly ticked by as the stunned Roserade tried to recompose herself.

"Rosey…you know what we're all going through right now…all of this isn't going to be forever. Things will go back to normal." Masquerain's voice was gentle and from the look in his eyes, he truly believed it.

Roserade turned to her partner. She sighed and shook her head. "Masq, even if things did go back to normal…could we?" she said in a low, somber voice. "Absol, Butterfree, and Flygon are gone. Drew hasn't been the same since that coordinator died."

She raised her bouquet arms for emphasis. "I've killed pokémon with these petals. The same petals that I used to perform. Can we even do contests anymore if we might kill our opponents? If the world we knew comes back, but we stay like…like this." Roserade motioned at herself with her arms.

While nothing had radically changed since the incident in Goldenrod, the way she spoke about it was as if her body were hideous and something to be hated and feared.

"We can make it work. We'll find a way." Masquerain's face was set in a determined expression and his voice was resolute.

"You don't know that!"

"Do you?" The eyespots on Masquerain's wings practically bored into Roserade. "Can you say with absolute certainty that everything will go badly for us?"

"Can you say that everything will work out just fine?" Roserade shot back. "You can't just be blindly optimistic! The world is more complicated than that!"

"Complex things are made up of a bunch of simple things. If we just tackle one thing at a time we'll eventually reach a solution. We're gonna make it through this!"

"Do you honestly believe that?"

The fire inside her weakened as she spoke, her red eyes locked onto his own. They were quiet for some time until Roserade broke away, mumbling something about practicing the next morning.

Masquerain stayed behind and floated in place. With a sigh, he left the comfort of the shade to return to his post.

As he watched over the desolate forest, the answer to Roserade's question echoed in his mind.

"_I want to_."

Harley woke up with a start. He pushed himself to a sitting position and looked around the campsite. There were no sounds except for the gentle snoring of his still sleeping companions. Filigrees of gold decorated the ground as the sun just barely crested the horizon. He took his wakefulness as a respite from his fitful world of dreams and went straight to work on breakfast. A neat little mound of assorted berries, nuts, and herbs were placed beside a stack of chopped wood and his belongings. Warmth spread throughout his chest as he scanned his pokéballs and beckoned Octillery over to help him start a fire.

Harley listened to the crackling fire as he got to work preparing breakfast. What he once viewed as a necessary drudgery was now a welcomed task. That is not to say that he cooked for the sheer pleasure of doing so; it was a distraction from his thoughts and dreams more than anything else. He wasn't sure if his dreams could truly be called nightmares but they most certainly couldn't be called "sweet". He sat on the ground, picking out berries that recognized as ingredients in his recipes. Once he was done with that one pile, he went through the various roots and leaves that either Cacturne or Banette thought he could use.

"Hey Solidad," he said softly. A translucent simulacrum of the pink-haired coordinator knelt down next to him as she watched him sort through the ingredients.

"_Morning Harley_," he pictured her saying as she stood beside him and watched him sort. "_What do you plan on making?_"

"I'm not sure yet. My buddies were nice enough to get us some food," he replied with a smile, examining one leaf in particular.

"_That's nice…of…them…_" the phantom Solidad said before fading into nothingness. Harley sighed in frustration and closed his eyes.

He had first started talking to her — or to be more truthful, to the open air — a few days ago. Whenever he could get a moment alone he would try to simulate conversations with her. He wasn't sure if these phantom conversations were a sign of his sanity gradually melting like ice under a flame or if they were attempts to maintain a facade of normalcy.

Yet, every time he tried to recreate her, everything that came out of her mouth felt odd. Wrong. _Fake._

Fake. That word resonated within his mind. Harley knew he wasn't talking to the real Solidad but a simulacrum concocted with his memories of her.

Every word he imagined she would say was shadowed by his own doubt of whether or not she would even say that. There were times he could hear her voice so painfully clear it hurt, because it was never what he wanted to hear from her.

"_You need to let me go eventually_," she reminded him, appearing before him once more. This wasn't the pathetic imitation he had conversed with before; this Solidad felt genuine and vibrant.

"It's only been nine days since you…" Harley began.

"_I know. I can't ask you to do it now. Or even a month from now. Mourn me for as long as you need to. But I want you to move on eventually. I promise one day the pain will fade_."

If he were honest with himself, part of Harley wanted the pain to stay. He didn't want to lose the razor-edged clarity he had of her memory. The way she laughed, the way she smiled. Like a statue exposed to the elements, time would erode the details until all that was a vague outline. He hadn't appreciated her when she was alive, so the pain of her passing seemed like adequate punishment for him now that she was gone. In the end, the permanent pain of her passing seemed like an acceptable price for the permanence of her memory.

"May and Drew are still okay," Harley said, his voice weak. It was a bald ploy to change the subject while he had a modicum of composure left.

The phantom Solidad seemed to take the hint and went with the flow of the conversation. "_I know they are. You've done a great job, Harley. I'm proud of you. Just get them through this and that'll be enough_."

"Will it? You weren't exactly clear on how long you wanted me to do this."

"Do what?"

Harley froze as Solidad's presence winked out of existence; the voice he heard was not his late friend's.

"…Harley, who were you talking to?" May asked. Her tone was a mix of curiosity and concern.

"Myself," he replied. May noticed that the way Harley replied was far too forceful for a normal response but she decided to ignore it. "I…travel by myself a lot and I usually talk myself when I cook, ya know. Like talkin' myself through the recipe. I guess I got so caught up with it that I forgot I wasn't alone," he added more calmly. As usual, his best lies were a mix of truth and fabrication. May sidled over to him and saw the mound of berries and herbs, to which Harley took note of and elaborated.

"Cacturne and Banette must've been busy last night because when I woke up these were here. This should hold us over until we get to the next town."

A disbelieving frown crossed May's face. "Harley, are you okay?" May's tone was low and serious.

"_Busted_," Harley thought. He then realized that she was staring at his bloodshot eyes and the streaks of dried tears on his face.

"Oh this…it's… it's nothing." Harley quickly rubbed his eyes with his forearm. "I was mincing one of the herbs and it just so happens they're like onions. They, uh, make my eyes water." He gave a nonchalant wave of his hand and smile. "Really, I'm fine. Go and wake the others, and let them know that breakfast is almost ready."

May's quiet gaze lingered for a few seconds before she moved away to rouse the others for the meal. As soon as May was out of earshot, the Solidad phantasm materialized right where May had previously been standing.

"_You know you can rely on them. They're all hurting in their own way. They'd understand_," Solidad said.

"What good would it do having them know? They've got enough problems on their minds without adding mine to theirs," Harley replied with a bitter sigh.

"_You're not alone anymore Harley, just remember that_."

"I'd like to believe that, I really would, but I've been alone for a long time now and that's because I know what people are like. Once we find a town, I doubt they'll want to be with me any longer than they have to. It's convenient for us to be together right now. The second it ain't anymore, we'll split. That's how it always goes."

"_What about everything you've gone through together?_"

Harley shook his head. "That'll just be another reason they won't want to see me. I'll just be a reminder of all the awful things we've seen and gone through. I've done awful things to them in the past and what we've gone through doesn't just erase that. You said it yourself; once I get through this rough patch, I'm done. I did what you asked."

Silence.

A cold chill ran down his spine in spite of the waves of heat from the roaring campfire. He looked around. At first, he was surprised that Solidad was nowhere to be seen. But a few seconds passed as he came back to reality and reminded himself that Solidad was never there.

* * *

Drew couldn't help but marvel at the size of the cave's entrance. Its yawning maw was about three stories tall. Which was still miniscule in comparison to the rest of the mountain that towered over them. There were no obstacles on the forested dirt road that had led them to the cave. Roserade and Masquerain had scoured the woods for fruit bearing trees but came up empty. Drew figured that berries had either already been picked clean by the native pokémon or there were no fruit trees in the area to begin with.

The tunnel must've gone for at least a mile as none of them could see the faintest glimmer of light of the other side no matter how hard they stared into the darkness. The sun hung high above them but for all its brilliance and intensity the light only made it a few meters into the tunnel. Stalagmites hung from the ceiling like conical teeth with droplets of water dripping onto the stones below.

It was times like this that Drew really felt the loss of Flygon. Almost on reflex, he buried the upwelling pain as deep as he could. Even though it was a vital skill, lest he become frozen with grief, it still disturbed him that he could bury his feelings over the loss of a beloved friend as easily as he could break off an uncomfortable conversation.

"_I'll deal with it later," _became his too often, "later" came and went. Each time something triggered a memory and its attendant sadness he pushed his feelings beneath the surface once more and hoped they'd drown.

He'd done this for a few days now, but he was left with a nagging question: when was he actually going to deal with it? He'd been told that bottling up his feelings and emotions was unhealthy and if he left it unattended for too long, he would explode like an overfed Electrode. And with the same unpleasant results.

The question was how long was too long?

"Soooo? How do we deal with this?" Drew let the question linger in the air, shifting from one person to another.

"We could just go around," May offered innocently, but the looks in everyone's faces told her their answer.

"We don't know how long it would take us to go around or if we can find enough food to hold us over for that long. You're sure that this is the straightest path to the next town?" Harley faced Whitney, who eventually caught on to the fact that the question was aimed at her.

"Oh!" Whitney replied. She looked down at her feet. "Uh, well it's the only one that I know of. There may be other tunnels but I don't know where they would take us. Some could take deeper underground; others might just lead us back to this main tunnel. If there is another tunnel that reaches the other side, I don't know where it is. I can't promise any others we find would be any safer than this one."

"Anything else you know about this place."

"I've heard that it's called the Onix Tunnel due to the fact a large number of Onix make their homes there. In an effort to beat my gym and get my badge, a good number of people have gone to this mountain in hopes of catching one for a type advantage against me.

"Thing is, these Onix are larger than normal. And _very_ tough to boot. I've heard that even water and grass type moves don't really work on them all that well. And a lot of people have gotten hurt trying to catch one," Whitney replied.

"Perfect, just perfect," Harley growled. "So either we try and make our way around this mountain and starve. Or we go through and deal with a bunch of Onix?"

"Your attitude isn't helping," Drew sneered.

"Well, sorry for being the one with enough balls to say what everyone's thinking!"

"We could just go over the mountain,' Whitney offered, shifting gaze between May and her Blaziken. "When we were running through the forest, your Blaziken was able to pick us up and take us pretty far."

"Blaziken are known to be really good jumpers," Drew added.

"What do you think, Blaziken? Think you can do it?" May asked, turning to the aforementioned pokémon.

The Blaze pokémon stared at her and the others, as if weighing them with his eyes. His gaze carried over to the mouth of the cave and to the very top of the mountain. He made his way over to the entrance, the limp in his stride slipping out despite his efforts. Blaziken lifted one leg before bending down and leaping into the air.

Fingers pierced through stone with ease as he reached the spot just above the entrance to the cave. Blaziken held himself there for a few seconds before leaping back down to their level, landing on the same leg he had jumped with and slowly letting his other leg down.

"You guys are seeing that too, right?" Whitney asked.

Harley nodded in agreement. "He's trying not to put any pressure or weight on that leg."

"It must've been something recent; he was fine before the Houndoom found us."

"Whitney, couldn't your Miltank just heal him with Milk Drink?" Harley asked.

Whitney shook her head. "She could if her reserves weren't almost completely dry. Between healing the others and helping feed us, she's pretty drained. I could let her graze for a few days but that would only be enough to give us regular milk. The healing variety takes her a little longer and it takes a lot out of her. We'd have to go without milk for a few days for her to make a healing dose for just him."

"That milk's been the only reason we've been able to make it this far without a steady supply of food." Drew quickly shot a glance to Harley. "No offense to you, Harley," he hastily added seeing the scowl that briefly crossed his face. "The way you've prepared the food has been amazing, but it's not enough in our situation."

"That still doesn't get us out of this situation. I figure going over the mountain is a no-go," Whitney replied. "Not with your Blaziken in his current state."

"Venusaur could get us up there, but as to her staying up there with us…" May trailed off.

"We'd lose a lot of energy just trying to make the climb ourselves; which is the last thing we need to do if we want to make the food and strength we have left last." Harley nodded.

"I guess that just leaves us with one solution," Drew said, glancing at the earthen maw.

"Whitney, do people normally pass through this tunnel to get to the next town?" May asked.

Whitney nodded. "For the most part, yeah."

"How do people even make it through here if it's so dangerous?"

"I've heard that people wait for the Onix to fall asleep before they try going through, I just don't remember when that would be though."

Something in Drew's mind clicked. He then turned to his starter pokémon. "I think I might be able to help with that."

* * *

They had all backed far enough away until the tunnel's entrance was well out of sight. Roserade had stayed behind to use her Grasswhistle technique to hopefully put anything inside the cave to sleep. For good measure they brought their hands over their ears and returned their party to their pokéballs while they waited. Several minutes later, they saw Roserade make her way to them and beckon them back to the cave. Blaziken, Masquerain, Wartortle and Glaceon were released back into the sunlight as they regrouped at the base of the mountain. Despite their attempt to mitigate the danger, the darkness that ebbed from the cave was no less intimidating than when they first saw it.

"Ya sure her Grasswhistle worked?" Harley asked, looking askance at the cave.

"I hope so," Drew replied, knowing Harley was going to ask him again in a few minutes and wouldn't be sated by the response until they were on the other side of the mountain.

"Only one way to find out," May said, taking the first tentative step towards the shadows as Blaziken took the lead. Flames burst from the fire starter's wrists and cast dancing shadows along the cavern walls.

The others followed suit with Harley taking up the rear, throwing worried glances to the world of light shrinking behind them. Roserade stood by the Cacturne-costumed coordinator, letting the petals of her bouquets glow brightly and peel away the darkness. Masquerain flew above them, dodging the falling droplets, lest he lose his ability to fly. Glaceon and Wartortle flanked the single-file line.

At first the walk was uneventful for the most part; the only noises heard were the drops of water from the ceiling and the crunch of dirt and gravel underfoot. No snores or ominous rumbles were heard and while in part it was comforting to think that the cave had been vacant or abandoned, another part of Harley's mind refused to believe that they were that lucky. The scarier thought was that Roserade's Grasswhistle had failed and her audience watched their prey from the shadows as they traveled deeper and deeper to their territory.

It was faint at first, but with every few steps the deep bellows and the rumble of shifting stone grew louder. Tension grew thick in the air; what was a harmless stone and what was an actual Onix was impossible to make out with the amount of light they were given. More light would've illuminated their surroundings but risked giving them away. Whether the Onix were close or far was hard to tell with all the echoes coming at them from every direction.

Their movements were agonizingly slow and methodical, each person doing their best to step on the same spots the person before them had stepped in. They held their breaths, frightened that slightest exhale would give them away. Minutes felt like centuries; their hearts thundered in their ears and left them wondering how the rest of the universe couldn't hear them. By the time the noises began to die down, they were matted with sweat and their hearts raced as if they had been running for miles.

It was around this time that a cold droplet of water landed on May's neck. Drew felt the faint splash and had it not been for his split second thinking and proximity, her piercing screams would've filled the tunnel. His hand immediately surged forward and slammed over her mouth, muffling her cry.

In spite of his efforts, a slight echo escaped into the air, managing one repetition before fading into the silence. Everyone froze in place, awaiting the world's response before they made their next move. May felt Drew's heart beat furiously against her back. When the silence continued he slowly let out a breath he'd been holding as quietly as he could.

Drew's hand slowly lifted from May's lips and heated cheeks before he fully backed away from her. She turned to apologize and was greeted to Whitney's frightened stare, Drew's relief and Harley's barely contained rage.

"Sorry," she mouthed, wiping the moisture off her neck. Harley made some whirling and slashing gestures with his arms; no words were needed to carry out what he wanted to say.

Whitney's hand was pressed against her heart as she slowly and softly inhaled and exhaled before giving May a thumbs-up. Drew threw her a weak but comforting smile until a small blush tinged his cheeks from the prolonged eye contact. May swiftly turned away before he could see how flushed her own face had gotten and started walking forward again.

The passage of time became harder to determine as their already sluggish march through the mountain slowed down to a crawl. Although Drew knew it was absurd, he couldn't shake the feeling that they had been in the tunnel for half a day. Whether or not they had been in there for more or less wouldn't be answered until they reached the end.

May had kept her focus down to the ground, making sure not to trip over something or kick any loose stones. Her fingers linked together over the back of her neck; the hope was to avoid another incident like earlier. Thoughts of Drew followed soon after and May became increasingly grateful for the darkness around them.

Though abrupt, Drew had still managed to be gentle when he stopped her voice from waking half of Johto's inhabitants. May wasn't sure how she would've made it through the week if he hadn't been there for her. Not to say that Harley's cooking or the help from Whitney's party hadn't played a major role in her survival, but Drew had always made sure that she was okay and had made the effort to spend more time with her than the others did.

He tried his best to give her some space and not be overbearing, but he never strayed so far that he couldn't be there for her at a moment's notice. It warmed her heart, but as much as she wanted to reciprocate, the scenario wasn't exactly the best time to see if they could be anything more than friends.

If she were honest with herself, as soon as this situation was all over, she would book the earliest flight to Hoenn and see her family. Once there, she'd take a break from coordinating for a bit — or maybe longer. Friends, family and even her fans would understand if they learned what she'd gone through.

May wasn't sure how long of a break it would be, but certainly long enough to visit Ash, Brock, and Dawn in the Sinnoh region. Maybe Drew was right; maybe this nightmare was only happening in the Johto region and her friends were okay. It was at that moment she caught herself thinking of Drew again. At some point her mind had started picturing Drew being at her side for the entire trip.

_"I'll be with you every step of the way."_

May contemplated returning Blaziken to his pokéball as she probably could've lit the tunnel herself with her cheeks.

"_Maybe he could come with me to meet my family and…I could go meet his in LaRou_—" May's train of thought was quickly broken when she bumped into Blaziken's back. She stumbled back and felt Drew catch her again before pushing her back onto her feet. She was about to thank him until she noticed that several things had changed while she was lost in thought.

Blaziken's wrists were no longer ablaze, casting the entire tunnel into darkness, save the speck of light in the distance. May would've been overjoyed at the sight of the exit were it not for the dozens of colossal serpentine figures near the entrance.

"I thought ya said the Grasswhistle would work," Harley said softly from behind them. May turned around, but without the light from their pokémon, nothing but darkness awaited the end of her gaze. She lifted her hand to her face, feeling the warmth of her fingertips through the blackness but otherwise blind to the world.

"They were all at the other end of the tunnel! So sue me for not figuring the echo wouldn't carry this far!" Drew growled back.

"What do we do now? Whitney whispered.

"You might not like it, but I have an idea," Drew began.

"Oh, this should be good," Harley mumbled.

"Let's have Roserade use Grasswhistle again. At this range she won't miss and the Onix should definitely hear it."

"Won't we get caught in the technique?" Whitney asked.

"Way I see it, we have two choices. We can get caught by the technique and go to sleep like the Onix will. Then Roserade can release some of our pokémon to take us out of the cave. Or, she can stay here and we'll make our way outside the cave. By the time we reach the entrance she'll have finished and we can head back and walk past them."

"How long would we be asleep?" Whitney spoke first, voicing everyone's question.

"I honestly couldn't tell you. It could be a few minutes; it could be a few hours. Though I'm sure our pokémon could keep us protected until we did wake up."

"I don't know how I feel about that."

"Sounds like a lot of walking," Harley grumbled.

"It's that or we can attack them head-on. So, how do we want to deal with this?" Drew asked.

* * *

"You gonna be okay by yourself again?" Blaziken asked. Before Roserade could reply Masquerain fluttered into their midst.

"Give Rosey some credit, she can handle herself," the Eyeball pokémon replied. "I hear she could've taken out the Golem you were all struggling with without even trying."

"Everyone contributed to wearing him down. If what the others told me was true, I doubt I would've been able to handle that beast when he was at his prime. And to be fair, I didn't work fast enough as he still tried to blow us up with him," Roserade retorted.

"She's just being modest, Blazy."

"…Blazy!?" the fire starter looked askance.

"He does this to everyone," Roserade said with a huff.

"Only my favorites," Masquerain replied.

"Uh…thanks?" Blaziken shifted his focus back to Roserade. "So you're good?"

"I'll be fine. Go and make sure the others make it back here safety." She pushed playfully at his ankles with his bouquets. Blaziken nodded and darted towards the front of the group, as his wrists flared to life.

"You are gonna be okay?" Masquerain whispered once Blaziken was out of earshot.

Her reply came back as a bop on his head with her bouquet.

"Okay! Okay!" He chuckled as he fluttered away, leaving her to watch until the darkness obscured him completely. Roserade began to count the petals on her bouquets; once she was done she figured enough time would have passed for her to make her move.

* * *

"_So far so good_," Blaziken thought to himself as he led the party through the tunnel. Part of him wanted to reduce the amount of fire his wrists produced, not because it was tiring him but because the darkness did an excellent job of hiding his limp. Having to demonstrate how useless he was in front of his coordinator and her friends had been bad enough. Worse was the fact that no one was berating him for it.

Every time his eyes met his coordinator's gaze they reflected her concern, as if she thought he would collapse at any moment. Sure, his leg pained him, but it wasn't so debilitating he could be considered a cripple. Like salt in his wounds, his teammates would come up periodically and whisper to him if he was okay, as if his limp had been a big secret to the rest of the world.

"_The more I listen to you, the more I trust that if you tried, if you wanted to, you would make a great leader for this team._" Miltank's words in the crater trickled into the forefront of his thoughts.

"Would've liked to have been part of that vote," Blaziken mumbled. No one had outwardly acknowledged him as their leader, but after what Miltank had said, the way they looked at him seemed different. He couldn't quite put his talons on it, but there was something else about the way they spoke about him.

"_Or maybe it's all in my head. Maybe nothing's changed and I just feel like it has. Ughh, asking them if they think I'm the leader makes me sound pretentious, but staying quiet's gonna make me explode_. "

The idea of him screaming his lungs out, while possibly cathartic, would have not boded well for their group. Anything for the next mile or so would've heard them in this dark and quiet…

"_Wait…quiet? Why is the cave quiet? It wasn't this silent when we were this deep_."

Blaziken held his ground, swinging his arm back to keep May from bumping into him again. As if to answer his unspoken question, the sounds of tumbling stones and shifting sand filled the air. The groans they had heard earlier were quiet compared to the grumbles that shook the tunnel walls. It was then that Blaziken realized Roserade's technique had worked.

And in a way, it had worked too well.

The grumbles they had heard before hadn't been echoes from the Onix at the end of the cave; it had been the snores of the ones near them.

And now they were waking up. And they were not pleased to see them.


	3. Fight at the End of the Tunnel

**Work has gotten a lot busier than I had anticipated, so a lot of the "free time" I had thought I would have to write poke wars is non existent, at least until it calms down, which I wouldn't be able to tell you when I my hopes are with yours when I hope that it's soon. The wedding is also coming up next month so there's a few things that have to be finalized and that take a lot of time. I also must admit that writer's block and writer's apathy have reared their ugly heads, this is especially frustrating when my computer keeps crapping out on me and shutting off, telling me that a critical process has died. I'm going to have it looked at when I can and when I have the money. Sorry to lay this on all of you but I wanted you to know why there's been a lack of productivity on my end. Aside from that there are a few good things to mention. I'm part of the way through with the next chapter of the Lapidesence which I'm experimenting with. If you guys like the difference I may continue doing it, if not then I will keep to the style of writing you normally see me use. **

**As always a big thanks goes to Zarrelion for his help on this chapter. Please be sure to check out the newest installment to his story, **  
**Poké Wars: The Files of Doctor Kaminko. I also believe that Nobodieshiiro and Agent of Chaos 112 have also come out with a new chapter for their stories, ****Poké Wars: The Remembrance and The Hard Road to Follow. I highly recommend a look and leave a review if you can.  
**

* * *

Roserade had almost finished counting the petals of the red bouquet when she heard the tunnel behind her begin to rumble. Fear seized her until she forced herself to spin around and take a defensive stance, the petals on her bouquets glowing brightly. She held the pose for a few seconds until Blaziken landed before her, holding Whitney and May in his arms.

She had watched Blaziken fight in the rain against an entire swarm of bug-type pokémon. Every slash of his arm, every sweep with his leg was a mix of grace and brutality. Not a single movement was wasted and every powerful blow landed with surgical precision. Roserade had watched him move faster than she — or anyone else for that matter — could follow with their eyes. But now, each jump was shadowed with a grimace. Meters he normally soared over with simple jumps were now struggles to reach.

"_If I'd gotten there sooner, if I hadn't been so paranoid he wouldn't be like this. I could have stopped the Golem and no one would've been hurt_."

Wartortle's shell spun into her midst. He would travel a few meters then stop to unload another torrent of water into the upper half of the tunnel's depths before continuing once more. Octillery was the next to appear, soaring through the air with his back still to her. He landed to her left, each of his limbs immediately slamming onto the stone just before launching another attack from his mouth. The force of the initial blast lifted a section of the earth beneath him from the ground; the second one managed to dislodge the slab of stone entirely and sent him skidding back. Being right beside him when he fired nearly deafened her when the force of the blast wasn't threatening to throw her to the ground.

Glaceon darted into view, pausing for the few seconds it took to fire another Ice Beam into the darkness and then darting to another location. Harley and Drew were the next to come into the light of her roses. Fearful expressions adorned their faces as they sprinted as fast as they could away from the impending battle. Octillery released his grip on his rocky platform before utilizing his suction cups on a new patch of stone in preparation for another salvo.

"Get a move on!" the ice Eeveelution yelled as she flew past them, making sure to land behind the coordinators. Stone spears the size of cars met blasts of explosively charged water as Octillery used Octazooka to shoot down the projectiles. Powdered stone and pebbles rained over them until a length of stone skewered through the earthen cloud.

The tip of the Onix's tail missed its mark, impaling into the ground a few feet from Octillery but with enough force to send him flying into a wall. The earth beneath its tail was trenched as it dragged across the ground and lifted up, slamming and pinning their crimson cannon to the wall.

Roserade studied the tail, launching a Razor Leaf between the boulders where the joint would be the weakest. The ensuing roar threatened to make the tunnel collapse and masked the sound of the severed tail crashing to the ground. Octillery pushed himself out from the crater in the wall as he fired another Octazooka at the Onix's head. The explosive blast of water struck true, causing a spray of water and pebbles to erupt from what remained of the Onix's head. He didn't even stop to watch the body hit the ground before jumping down and turning to facing Roserade.

"Thanks," he replied in such a bored manner that made her wonder if he'd even realized he'd been smashed into a cave wall.

"Aren't you hurt?" she asked.

Octillery shrugged his tentacles casually and started making for the exit like the others.

"Wait, where's Masquerain?"

If Octillery knew the fate of her friend then he didn't say, leaping away from her with all of his limbs and firing into the darkness, the force of his blast giving him a few more meters of distance. Roserade whirled around to find herself staring at Masquerain and a horde of stampeding Onix behind him.

"Of course you'd be the last one to make it back," Roserade chided as she started to break into a run.

"I thought my Sweet Scent could've calmed them down!" Masquerain yelled, dodging shards of stone and swipes at his body with ease.

"I don't think it worked."

"How could you tell?" he deadpanned.

"Think of it as woman's intuition," Roserade smiled, sending a salvo of leaves back at their pursuers. Against the bulk of their rocky hides her leaves bounced off without incident, but the seeds mixed in with the barrage started working their magic nearly immediately. Tiny roots erupted from each pod the moment it latched onto the stone, growing and wrapping around their new hosts. The Onix writhed against their sylvan restraints, ramming their bodies into the ground, walls, and even each other in hopes of scraping the bindings off.

"Leech Seed, eh?"

"That should keep them busy for a bit," she replied with a smirk.

"Never thought I'd see the day where you were playful in this kind of situation. Maybe a little bit of Banette has finally rubbed off on you."

"Perish the thought." Roserade waved a bouquet dismissively

"You're right. I'm sure you'd prefer to have Cacturne rubbing off you."

Roserade face glowed to such a degree that she could have instantly fired off Solar Beam. Worse were Masquerain's snickers that followed in her extended silence. A stone that nearly skewered him quickly forced his mirth down and forced him to focus on the task at hand.

* * *

Drew and Harley's sweat soaked backs quickly came back into view with Glaceon and Octillery keeping up beside them.

The coordinators were nearly spent, no longer having the energy to keep running at full speed. They were stumbling over themselves, desperately trying to exceed a walking pace. It wasn't that the threat of death behind them wasn't enough of an adequate motivator; their bodies were slowly giving out on them.

With no one on their team behind them, Octillery sprayed the tunnel behind them with as much water as he could muster. Glaceon gladly froze the drenched soil, hoping that would be enough to earn them a few seconds of time. Roserade glanced ahead and found that their ordeal wasn't over yet. Darting past the swinging tails of several angry Onix in the distance was Blaziken, balancing on a single leg while still holding May and Whitney.

Wartortle did his best to help, shifting the aim of their tails and pushing their heads aside with well-placed torrents of water. While helpful, the attacks didn't seem to bother them — or for that matter, even be noticed by them. Octillery landed beside him saying something to him before firing his own water attack. The difference was noted immediately as the needlepoint jet of water pierced through an Onix's stony skull.

The focus on Blaziken fleeing out of the cave was dropped the moment they felt one of their own hit the ground. There was confusion until a closer look revealed a hole through the side of the stone snake's face. It wasn't long before another Onix suddenly dropped. This time the hole lay neatly between its eyes. Blaziken soared out the cave's entrance and into the light, leaving the remaining Onix to stare at the source of the water attacks.

On one hand Roserade was happy that Blaziken had made it through with the humans intact.

On the other hand she couldn't help but feel a little bit betrayed at having to deal with the remaining Onix he had left behind.

Or so she thought, until Blaziken flew back into the cave, slamming his foot into the back of an Onix's head and forcing it to crash into one of its brethren.

"Remember what I told you. Build the pressure. Then focus it," Octillery repeated before firing once more. Octillery's new target reacted quickly, having learned from the last two deaths of his comrades.

And barreled towards his new targets.

That single action was the spark that was all that was needed to rouse them to action. Fueled by rage, the other Onix began to charge en masse. Blaziken pinballed off their stony hides as he dodged the charging horde, his last leap carrying him the remaining fifty meters between the onix and his friends. He landed in front of Drew and Harley, grabbing them both and readying himself for another jump.

"Mind clearing us a path?" the fire starter panted out.

"Okay guys, just like we talked about," Glaceon said as she got in position.

Octillery settled between Wartortle and Glaceon while Masquerain hovered over them. A soft cyan glow began at their mouths and Masquerain's horn. Several seconds later, the glow was now blinding and the Onix landslide was quickly closing the forty meters that now separated them.

"Ice Stream!"

Four voices screamed in unison as a massive light blue column of energy surged towards the oncoming horde. The Onix reacted quickly, slamming their bodies into the cave's walls and even each other as they tried to avoid the pillar of icy energy. Stones and sand fell from the ceiling as the light from the beam dissipated, returning the cave to a black abyss.

A thin layer of frost coated the sides of the Onix that had faced the blast, which quickly started to crack and flake off the moment they started to move again. Blaziken took that as his opening and launched forward until he was a crimson dot in the distance with screaming voices and flailing limbs in his embrace. One Onix tried to make a move for the fire starter until a thin stream of water stopped all action as it pierced the Onix's stony skull and destroyed its brain.

"You're getting the hang of it!" Octillery applauded as the pithed Onix fell to the ground with a mighty thud. Wartortle smiled at the praise.

Their half-frozen targets would've been easy pickings had the Onix behind them not arrived to strike back. A massive stony tail slammed into their midst with enough force to send all crashing into the walls. Roserade quickly peeled herself from the stone in time to be greeted by a length of boulders closing in on her. She darted over one tail only to be spiked out of the air by another one.

Roserade's face dragged against the earth, trenching it for a few meters before finally stopping. She lifted herself off the ground only to stumble back down when the world around her spun. A sugary fluid filled her mouth, forcing her to spit it out and wonder if something in her body had burst. Every inch of her body was aching; the incessant ringing in her ears made her think her head was about to split. Her lids felt heavy, the darkness that bordered her vision threatened to overtake the rest of her sight.

Roserade fought to stay conscious; her breathing labored and vision dancing. She fought the incessant waves of nausea that assailed her despite being stationary. She figured the only reason that she was still alive was from the remnants of her leeching seeds sending her some of the energy they had taken. The crash of stone, throaty bellows and the cries of her friends around her all sounded as if they were underwater. Snippets of the battle around her caught her attention as the world seemed to move slower for her sake.

Masquerain was still dodging everything thrown or swung at him. He fired his Ice Beam with abandon, but still only managing to cover small segments of each Onix.

Despite Masquerain's seemingly ineffective lances of icy energy, he was at least able to fight back. Glaceon didn't even have that little bit of power; every muscle and movement was dedicated to keeping her alive as she ducked and weaved around the stony strikes.

Both of them knew that a single miscalculation on their part; a single mistake that allowed even a glancing blow spelled their doom.

Wartortle and Octillery were faring better, diving and ducking around stones while returning fire with their blasts of pressurized water. While most of their attacks missed or did only superficial damage but were forcing the Onix to keep their distance. Roserade turned around; the Onix they had nearly frozen were now thirty meters away.

She did her best to steady her arms and fired another barrage of serrated spinning leaves. Rather than dodge them like their previous attacks, the Onix merely swatted them aside with their stony tails. Roserade managed a smile as she watched the Onix wrestle against the roots that had sprouted from the seeds she had mixed in with her attack. The more they struggled, the more energy her seeds siphoned from their bodies.

Pain that had once encompassed all of her thoughts dulled as the energy flowed into her. The world stopped spinning and she found that she could steady herself. But that surge of energy would be wasted if she didn't act quickly. If the Onix before her were anything like the ones behind her, the seeds wouldn't hold them up for too long.

"_I could do Petal Dance, but everyone would get caught in the attack. There's Giga Drain, but doing it one at a time would take too long and trying to get all of them at once would be no different than using Leech Seed. I don't have too many seeds left, but it might just be enough to slow them all down and get us outside. Out there we'll have more room to work with_." Roserade ran through her arsenal of attacks and pondered how to best use them.

With all their attention on her companions, the Onix were to slow to notice another salvo of seeds from Roserade until it was already too late. They writhed as the binding roots crawled across their hides and sapped their strength.

"Guys come on!" a voice behind her yelled.

Roserade turned to find Blaziken right behind her. "Good job with the Leech Seeds!" he said with a smile.

"Get a good look 'cause those were my last ones for today. How's—"

"The others are fine, they're being guarded by the rest of the group," Blaziken interjected.

"I was going to say your leg," Roserade replied with a slight huff.

"It's fine." His tone was stiff until it dissolved into concern. "What about you? You look pretty roughed up; I could give you a lift."

Roserade let the obvious shift in topics slide for now; now was _not_ a good time to argue.

"I'll be okay, but you carrying me would wound my pride more than anything the Onix have dealt," she said, averting her gaze.

"So that's a no?"

"Never said that. But I'll manage fine on my own. Glaceon might make better use of that offer for now."

"Got it," he nodded, leaping into the fray and smashing his elbow into an Onix's skull. While the blow wasn't fatal, it was enough of a distraction to get to Glaceon without being clobbered.

Roserade stealthily approached the Onix horde that surrounded Wartortle and Octillery and closed her eyes, focusing on the aura of one of the Onix before her. Tendrils of her aura extended from her body and latched onto her target's life force. Where the Leech Seeds had been like thimbles taking water from a bucket, Giga Drain was scooping out bowlfuls of water.

Her target froze. The strength that let it move was no longer there. It turned to face her before its head crashed onto the ground, cracks radiating from the impact zone. Their eyes met but she kept the pressure. Within seconds the once brilliant golden glow of the Onix's aura was reduced to a guttering ball of light at the center of its body.

Some part of her told her she could stop. That she had drawn enough to heal most of her own wounds, but another part of her spoke of a darker truth.

"_If you let them live they'll still try and come after you and the others. They won't stop until Drew and May and Cacturne are dead. More people will get hurt because you didn't do what you needed to do to keep them safe_."

Calm red eyes met panicked brown as Roserade sucked the last bit of aura from the Onix. The faint orb that she saw at the core of the Onix vanished like a candle snuffed out by the wind. Roserade watched as the Onix grew limp, its eyes glazing over as it became a lifeless pile of stones. Octillery noticed the opening, quickly leaping into the air with five of his limbs, dedicating the suckers of his last free arm to Wartortle's shell. His second leap propelled Wartortle and himself directly behind Roserade.

"Thanks for the he—" Wartortle began until he saw the pained look on her face and stopped.

"Don't. Not right now! Just go!" Roserade ordered between sharp breaths.

As if to emphasize her point, Blaziken darted out behind her. He had Glaceon in his arms while Masquerain flew after him. Roserade burst into a sprint, watching Wartortle spin along the tunnel floor to her right and Octillery leap through the air to her left. The only thing left between them and the tunnel's exit was fifty meters and a mound of thrashing Onix and roots.

Each of them found a different way of maneuvering around the pile of stone snakes, and while speeding past them was easy, it was keeping up that same pace for the last thirty meters that they found the most taxing. Roserade knew the roots from her seeds were already reaching their limit. The boulders that made up the Onix's bodies were spinning in place, dislodging some of the seeds in seconds. A few of her seeds had taken root deeper in their bodies and would take a little more effort to remove, a fact that she was now banking on.

One of the first Onix to be free of the Leech Seeds burst after them, set on retribution for the siblings he had lost in the battle. Octillery was about to fire a Water Gun at him but Wartortle beat him to the punch. The water starter's attack struck true, cutting into the Onix's throat and slicing through his neck until the Onix's head tumbled onto the ground. Octillery was about to compliment him again until Wartortle's body began to glow.

* * *

Blaziken felt his leg give out the moment he left the mouth of the cave. With his last bit of strength, he turned his body around before hitting the ground. He braced himself for the fall and slide but found that it never came when something wrapped around his body and held him just over the dirt. Masquerain fluttered overhead, every flap of his wings making the sun flit in and out of view.

"Nice catch, Vee." Masquerain exhaled. He circled Venusaur's head and then collapsed onto it. Glaceon hopped out of Blaziken's arms as the vines that wrapped around him lifted him onto his feet. Blaziken tried to stand once more, but ended up grabbing the grass starter's vines once more for support. She helped him lower to the ground and into a sitting position that faced the cave's entrance.

"Where…is…May?" Blaziken said between breaths, equally happy and concerned that his coordinator and her friends were nowhere in the vicinity.

"Munchlax and Miltank are guarding them further down the road," Venusaur replied.

"Uh, guys? Weren't Rosey, Octi, and Squirt just behind us?" Masquerain chimed in.

Blaziken immediately tensed, his first thought to get up and grab them until Venusaur's vines and Glaceon's paws pulled him back.

"Don't even think about it. You've done enough for today. If you keep pushing yourself like this you're gonna really get hurt." She met the fire starter's resolute gaze with one that was equally unyielding.

Blaziken stared into Glaceon's eyes; eyes that promised to keep him safe, even if it meant sealing him into a block of ice to do it.

"Don't make me tell Miltank," she warned and to her delight his shoulders slumped into relaxation.

"Low blow," he mumbled under his breath as she turned and made her way to the cave once more. He watched her closely, noting the way her fur raised into icy quills at the sight of whatever she saw inside the cave.

* * *

The jump between Wartortle's forms had been drastic, but Roserade couldn't help but admit that the finished product was impressive. Blastoise must've thought so as well, because he had spun around to face the landslide of stone types with a smirk atop his lips. However, it would seem that his evolution did not come without its drawbacks.

The moment his water jets fired, the recoil tipped him backwards until he lost his balance and fell onto his shell. In a matter of seconds her sense of wonder at the sight of him disintegrated, leaving only anger, fear and disbelief.

Blastoise wildly flailed his arms in the air, succeeding only in getting his entire body to rock back and forth.

One of the embodiments of aquatic power, capable of punching holes through solid steel, was now floundering pathetically on his back.

And the sight of it stupefied her.

"Of all the times you could've picked to evolve…_This. Is. The. Worst. Possible. Time_!" Roserade screamed, beating the surface of Blastoise's shell between words. She put so much force behind each blow that some of her petals fell off her bouquets. While she doubted he would even notice the blows, she found the action somewhat therapeutic.

"I thought it would've been helpful," the shellfish pokémon offered.

"If you guys are gonna do something, make it fast!" Octillery reminded, firing burst after burst of pressurized water at the oncoming throng of rampaging onix. His normally calm and baritone voice sounded higher and more panicked now. A quick look at their opposition immediately revealed why.

The Onix were quickly learning and dodging every attack. At most, he was able to stall one of them for a second or two while the others advanced.

"Turn me around," Blastoise commanded.

"What?" Roserade asked.

"Turn me around so that my cannons are aiming at the Onix. I think I can push myself out of the cave and attack them at the same time."

"Sounds like a plan. We can hop onto his stomach and hitch a ride with him. He can supply the power while I can steer and shoot at the Onix with my own attacks." Octillery spat a blob of ink at the Onix. A plume of choking black smoke soon blotted the Onix out of view. It wasn't as effective as using his blades of water to cut the Onix into pieces but the Smokescreen attack he had used was faster and didn't need to be aimed. Hopefully, the choking smoke would blind the Onix long enough for them to get away.

Roserade wasn't so sure about this plan, but she wasn't about to take it up with the stone snakes closing in on them. She slammed against one of the water jets with her arms and legs, managing to turn him a few inches with every slam. A glob of ink — courtesy of Octillery — spattered the area where Blastoise's shell touched the ground. The combination of lubricant, Roserade's blows and Octillery's suction-cupped limbs, helped get Blastoise oriented in the proper position.

Once Blastoise was in place, Octillery hopped onto the shell, fixing himself to its surface the moment he sensed Roserade's presence behind him. An odd sense of déjà vu came over him as he remembered he had done something similar in Goldenrod City. He had been on Lapras at that time and he could only hope that Blastoise did not suffer a similar fate.

* * *

Blaziken knew something was wrong when Glaceon threw herself to the ground. One moment, he saw a blue and brown streak speeding out of the cave and the next; he saw Blastoise, Roserade and Octillery sprawled against one of nearby stones, frozen by the earlier Ice Stream attack. Roserade slid off Blastoise's shell and wobbled a bit before steadying herself against him.

"We need to get out of here!" Glaceon announced as she got off the ground and stared into the cave.

"Why?"

The Eeveelution spun around to face the source of the voice and found herself staring at Masquerain.

"What do you mean 'why'!?" Glaceon's voice rose in pitch and a note of urgency began to creep into her words. "We need to be out of here before they get out of the cave!"

"Why do we have to leave when we can wipe them out now?" Masquerain replied.

Glaceon blinked at him for a few seconds, mouth open but at a loss for words at that moment.

"We don't need to kill them. They won't come after us if we leave," she said lamely.

"And how'd you know that? How'd you know they won't come after us?" Masquerain countered.

"Weren't you listening to the pink haired girl!? They live in this cave and they're territorial but they're not bloodthirsty. They didn't like us being in their cave so they lashed out." Glaceon struggled to keep her voice neutral but hints of her anger began to seep through.

"They don't look like they're gonna stop at the cave." Masquerain turned his body and motioned with his wings towards the cave, roars and crashes spewing from its depths. "How is this any different from the Golem you killed?"

"That's entirely different. And you damn well know it! We were defending our coordinators, the Houndoom and ourselves! We didn't have the option of leaving that time."

"These guys are out for blood."

Glaceon shot the Eyeball pokémon a withering look. "And you're not?"

"Need I remind you that we killed a few of them back there?"

"And whose fault is that!?" Glaceon screamed. It was then she noticed her outburst had attracted attention.

Roserade stared at Masquerain silently for a few seconds before she started to speak. "You're suggesting that we fight them off?"

"I'm suggesting that we finish them off. For good. We're in the perfect place to do it. You guys can do that attack you were all talking about a few days ago. They won't have time to dodge and it wouldn't need to kill all of them. The ones left over would know not to mess with us," Masquerain explained.

"They have every right to be angry at us," Glaceon said, her voice calm again. "We walked into their homes attacked and killed some of them. But that doesn't give us the right to wipe them out when we have the option of getting away. We don't need to kill any more than we already have. None of our side died, so let's cut our losses and leave," she finished, her voice pleading.

"Maybe none of us died today. But what about tomorrow or the day after? Say nothing of the others who come this way? If we leave them alone then they'll be a danger to us and anyone else on this path. These things weren't going to talk to us; I doubt they'll offer the same courtesy to anyone else."

"What about the rest of you? Are you all okay with this?" Glaceon growled, looking from one face to another. Blastoise had retreated back into his shell. Octillery bowed his head and stared at the dirt. Blaziken stared back at her from his spot on the ground. Venusaur waited quietly behind him.

"Glaceon, I don't like this anymore than you do, but we have to think about May and her frie—" Blaziken stopped the moment she dropped her gaze from his and turned her head abruptly, as if the sight of him disgusted her.

"Do what you want then. I'll be with May," she spat and ran off towards their coordinators.

"If we're gonna do something, we should do it now," Octillery added as he made his way over to Roserade. Blaziken felt Venusaur move away from him and join the other two at the mouth of the cave. Roserade stretched out her arm, aiming a glowing bouquet at the mouth of the cave while the other stayed at her side.

Octillery's limbs slammed onto the ground, anchoring him in place. Tiny motes of light danced around him as they began to coalesce into larger sphere of golden energy.

Venusaur's flower began to glow as it sucked in shimmering spheres of light. Using her vines, she lifted up her lower body and aimed the flower into position.

Roserade watched the dozens of Onix draw closer. They were only a few meters away as the petals on her arm became an incandescent white.

"Ready?" she asked, receiving a curt nod from each of them. Her arm shook as she struggled to restrain the pent-up energy in her glowing bouquet. "Okay. Now!"

"Solar Storm!" they yelled. All three of them had to brace themselves to keep from being thrown off their feet by the immense recoil. The beams of light twisted around each other until they fused into a solid white column that filled the entirety of the cave. Almost immediately, the entire area became a blinding white — a testament to the power of the attack they had unleashed.

Roserade's feet dug into the earth beneath her as she kept from being knocked backwards by the attack. Her eyes were screwed shut, lest she blind herself. Her arm trembled as she struggled to keep the beam trained on the cave. More frightening than the power of the attack itself was the idea of what could've happened to her had she used both of her arms to do the attack.

The beam began to thin out until only motes of light were left, drifting aimlessly through the air until they dissipated entirely. Soon, the pure white glow had faded back to the comparatively dim light of the midafternoon sun. Tremors shook the ground upon Venusaur dropping back down to all fours. While it felt as though the blast had gone on for several minutes, in reality it had only been for a few seconds. Masquerain fluttered over to the mouth of the cave, searching for any signs of life. Finding none he made his way back to the group, still stunned into silence.

"There's…nothing left of them," he announced, disbelief clear in his voice.

In the absence of the roar of Onix and the rumble of stones, the silence was nearly deafening. It took a moment for the others to let the event wash over them, doing their best to process what had just happened.

Venusaur was the first one to silently move away, heading towards Blastoise and helping push him back onto his feet. Octillery and Masquerain were the next ones to leave, making their way over to where their coordinators were at first before stopping to watch Blastoise inspect his new body.

An eerie sense of calm hung over them as the last of their adrenaline started to fade. Blaziken limped over to Roserade who was still staring into the tunnel's depths. She traced the line where the earth had been gouged out from the attack, noting how it widened until it reached the tunnel's entrance. The only evidence that the Onix they had killed even existed lay in those lines.

"I'm sorry I made yo—" the Blaze pokémon began.

"You didn't make me do anything," Roserade curtly replied.

"Well…I'm sorry if this was hard for you to do," Blaziken said as he sat down next to her, meeting her eyes with his own.

Roserade didn't turn to face him, her entire focus trained on the tunnel's entrance, as if she expected another group of the stone snakes to come into view. Darkness and silence were all that stared back at her, betraying her expectations of another round of battle.

The Bouquet pokémon let out a sigh and began to speak. "Honestly, the worst thing about this whole situation is how easy it was for me to kill them. It…shouldn't be this easy, right?

"Life is supposed to be…I don't know, bigger, I guess. Grander?

"I've heard that life's precious because it can be so fleeting and fragile, but when taking a life is easier than performing in a contest, it kind of undermines the grandeur we give it. I never really hear anyone else talk about it so I figure this I'm just the weird for think—"

"You're not," Blaziken interjected sternly, keeping his gaze on the tunnel as well.

"So you've thought about it too?"

"I…to be honest, no. I really didn't think too much about it until now. All those pokémon I killed on the ranch..."

"You weren't the only one who fought and killed back there, and I doubt any of us lost any sleep over what we did. Back at the ranch, Masquerain and I had a technique where he was mostly in front of me. I didn't see too much of what I was doing to the other pokémon there, but I saw the aftermath. Sure, it was gruesome, but part of me didn't acknowledge that I had been the cause of that slaughter. It was like I was watching someone else make those attacks with my body while I watched from the sidelines."

"If we hadn't fought they would've killed us," Blaziken said. "We did what we had to do. It doesn't mean we have to like it."

"I'm well aware of that, but I'm growing tired of hearing that reason be the only reason why we do any of this anymore. It starts to lose its potency every time we repeat it. I don't think this last attack was self-defense."

The way he winced at her words did not go unnoticed, making her wonder if she had said too much.

Blaziken turned to Roserade and looked square at her. "You…you don't think I made the right choice, do you?"

Roserade sighed and turned away from the cave to watch the others behind them as she sat down. The rest of their group was watching Blastoise take his first clumsy steps in his new form. Venusaur offered some words of encouragement and advice, no doubt reminded of her of her own time from when she made that jump in size. Blaziken eventually did the same and turned himself around with his arm. The sight of the others gave caused him to smile. Albeit a small and brief one.

"I think we cornered you into making the hard choice that none of us wanted or were willing to make," she said.

"Masquerain certainly looked like he wanted to," Blaziken replied.

"But it wasn't until you said it was okay that the rest of us actually went for it."

Blastoise had made the mistake of shifting too much of his weight to front the front of his body, his body tilting forward as he whirled his arms around in an attempt to stabilize.

"Why is that? Why does it come down to me?" Blaziken threw his arms up in exasperation.

"There could be a bunch or reasons why, but I guess it's because we think you can handle making these kinds of choices — ones we don't or wouldn't trust ourselves to make. A lot of us just feel like we can trust you, even if you haven't done anything for us yet. No one really has to say it, but we need someone who understands us when our coordinators can't speak our language or aren't there in our fights," Roserade replied.

Blastoise eventually righted himself, earning a cheer from Octillery, Venusaur, and Masquerain. The grass starter had kept her distance, but hadn't retracted her vines lest he need her at a moment's notice. Roserade could see the inner conflict by the look in her eyes. It was a balance of how much to intervene so that he wouldn't make a total fool of himself but also how much to let him handle it so that he didn't feel babied.

"Is there no one else that could do this?" Blaziken finally asked.

"Maybe Cacturne, but only those of us who've been with him would know he could handle what we're putting you through. We hardly see him since he started handling the night watch."

"So I'm stuck with this."

"You don't have to see it that way. Who knows how long we'll be together like this. Might be another few days, might not. Maybe we won't have to face another fight like this before we part ways. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should try and turn this into something positive if you can."

"Oi! Hate to break your little playdate, but you two comin' or what?" Masquerain cried out.

"Could you give us a minute?" Roserade hissed.

"Oh? Okay, I'll leave you two be, but what will Cacturne think?" Masquerain chuckled and fluttered away.

Roserade sat there for a few seconds.

"He wouldn't," she muttered under her breath and blinked a few more times. "He would!" She scrambled to get back up and get to the Eyeball pokémon.

"You…and Cacturne?" Blaziken arched an eyebrow at her.

"It's nothing! He's joking! I…I have to go kill him and hide the body now! Let's talk about this again!" Roserade's words tumbled out in a barely coherent mess as she ended the conversation and ran faster than he had ever seen her move.

A green tendril stretched into his field of view and made him turn to see Venusaur before him.

"Need a lift?" she asked.

"If you don't mind," Blaziken replied, grabbing the offered vine and marveling in the strength of something so thin as it lifted him off the ground and placed him on her head.

"Let's go meet up with the others."

* * *

"Next tunnel through a mountain we find, we go _around_ the damn thing!" Harley grumbled.

"Agreed," Whitney added and looked to Miltank, whose back was still to her. The sounds of battle had reached their ears, but when they tried to get a closer look, Miltank and Munchlax immediately barred their way. She and the others quickly took the hint, but couldn't help but wonder how the battle was faring. Whitney and the others quickly came to realize that worse than the sounds of combat, were the periods of silence of those away from the battlefield.

She watched the coordinators silently stare into the woods in hopes of catching the briefest glimpse or sign as to what was happening by the tunnel. Whitney could feel their dread as if it were a tangible wave that radiated off them. No words to quell their fears came to her mind and even if any did, she couldn't find a way to avoid making empty promises or giving false hope. So in the end she remained silent, watching the road and the woods and waiting patiently with them.

While they were not her pokémon, another death would've been another mark on her soul. She had found that as the days with them went on she had started to see the other pokémon as an extended part of her party. The coordinators were kind towards her and always considerate of her feelings, but certain things about them had created some distance.

Although they were the nicest to her, May and Drew often and unknowingly made her feel like a third wheel. Harley was always cordial towards her but she often felt that he'd rather be alone with his thoughts. There weren't too many things she could talk to them about without bringing up the memories of the world she no longer had.

Her gym leader career, the goings of Goldenrod, and her experiences on her uncle's ranch were things she could've easily talked about in length with Milton. Since his passing she realized she hadn't just lost an uncle that day, she had also lost her best friend, her mentor, and the closest thing she had ever had to a father.

Beyond their situation and pokémon, there was little else Whitney had in common with the others. In the last few days most of her time had been spent watching their collective party interact. They didn't seem to mind her presence and while they didn't openly acknowledge her, she didn't feel like an outsider around them.

She had done something similar back on the ranch, watching the Miltank graze when she had finished all her work and chores. This experience however was very different from what she was used to. By comparison her Miltank were pretty dull. Their joint party, on the other hand, was just starting to get to know the other teams they were working with. Their interactions were lively and animated, enough that she found herself smiling at their antics.

Ever since Drew's Masquerain had used a move that the others had called Sweet Scent, her mood had lightened considerably. She would watch the pokémon talk with one another and even try to make a game of it by trying to make words out of what they were saying. At times she just listened and felt that she could almost understand what they were actually saying. It was around those times that she figured she'd been sitting out in the sun for too long.

In one instance she watched Octillery who appeared to be trying to learn Ice Beam from Glaceon and Masquerain. The Eeveelution would perform the attack then say something to the cephalopod and wait for him to try. When it came for Masquerain to demonstrate, he looked around before taking aim and launched a tiny ice bolt at the ground beneath Roserade's feet. The Bouquet pokémon jumped from the sudden temperature change and slipped upon landing back on the icy surface.

What followed was a chase across the field and forest that had the joint party and even some of the Houndoom smiling. It caught her off guard, but she soon found herself smiling and eventually laughing as well. While the event hadn't been the most hilarious thing she had seen, something about it had gotten to her. The sound of her own laugh felt foreign to her at first. Something she knew that wasn't right.

"_But how long has it been since I laughed like that? It feels like it's been forever_."

She knew she must've laughed — or at least chuckled — a week or so before the events at Goldenrod, but for the life of her she couldn't seem to bring up the memory.

"_Wow. That's sad. I can't even remember the last time I laughed. But this is good right? This is the first real laugh I've had since my world fell apart_."

A darker thought came to the forefront of her mind at the end of the previous one. "_I thought I'd never laugh again after what happened and yet here I am. Smiling and laughing. I should be happy I can do this again but…is it too soon? That sounds silly when I think about it but after everything I've lost, should I be mourning longer?_"

It was then that she noticed something large and pink was heading towards her. Over the last few days the sight of Miltank had pained her, not only because she was a constant reminder of what had happened, but because what was left of her prized herd looked positively drained. Having to meet the healing and feeding demands of the group had taken a lot out of her. Yet on her face wasn't exhaustion but a beaming smile.

There was relief and tears in Miltank's eyes, her hooves reaching out grabbing Whitney's cheeks, softly tugging on them to make them smile once more. While slightly uncomfortable, the act warmed her heart in a way like nothing had in the last few days. The shame at her own laughter dissolved as she reached out and hugged her ace pokémon.

"_Am I over what happened? No. Just the thought about it hurts like crazy…but I'm still here. If I was really done then I could've let the Ursaring kill me or walked into the burning forest. Some part of me wants to keep living. Maybe it's because I'm scared about what happens after, maybe it's because I feel that it's not all over for me yet. I don't want to let this beat me, at least not yet_." Whitney flexed her limbs and blinked her eyes before taking a deep breath. "I haven't lost everything. Not yet."

Glaceon's appearance immediately brought her out of her ruminations and back to the present. May ran over to the Eeveelution, Munchlax and Miltank not having the heart to stop her. Glaceon jumped in but did not share in the joy that came with the reunion. Munchlax and Miltank approached and spoke their names; Glaceon leapt out of the May's embrace and growled her name back.

"Glaceon, are the others okay?" May asked, unsure about what had just transpired between the pokémon. The Eeveelution stared back at her with cool eyes and nodded back quietly.

"Well that was cryptic," Drew muttered, resuming his watch of the road. Within a few minutes Masquerain appeared with Roserade running right behind him. Octillery was the next one to show up, following him were several large figures.

"Well I'll be a…" Harley's voice trailed off at the sight of Blaziken, Venusaur and Blastoise walking back towards them. May ran over to them and practically tackled Blaziken as she hugged him. She moved on to hug Venusaur and stopped just before the fully evolved water starter for a brief moment before she pressed herself against his shell, finding that her arms came hopelessly short of encircling his new body.

Harley ran over to his Octillery and hugged his head and quickly found himself in the Jet pokémon's embrace as well. Drew couldn't help but laugh while Roserade chased Masquerain, who made good use of his coordinator as a shield.

"_Maybe Drew was right_," Whitney thought to herself.

A smile bigger than any she had smiled before formed on the former Goldenrod gym leader's lips.


	4. Despite Respite

**I had my doubts about this chapter but Zarrelion's inputs have really made it shine more to where I'm comfortable with it so major thanks there. It's been a while since life and work have a funny way of taking away from the things you wanna do. Hope I didn't keep you guys away too long. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please let me know your thoughts, what you liked, what you didn't. Just cause I may have heard it before, doesn't mean I don't like hearing your input.**

* * *

When they saw the building, the sun's fading light was just skimming the wooded horizon. The sight of humanity's untouched artifice spurred on their tiring bodies. Glaceon bounded ahead of them as she scanned the area and sniffed the air for any potential threats. Masquerain hovered above the group while Roserade took the rear.

"Harley, should we bring them out now?" Drew asked, motioning with his hand at Harley's belt.

The Cacturne-costumed coordinator lifted his stare to a sky awash with shades of orange and lilac. He nodded.

"Now should be fine," he said, plucked the spheres from his waist. Twin flashes drew Glaceon's focus from her task. Cacturne and Banette looked around, taking in their surroundings for a clue as to why they were summoned. Cacturne's eyes fell to the back of the group and landed on Roserade. Their eyes met for a few seconds before she shifted her gaze up to Masquerain, glared at him and turned away from him to face the woods behind them.

"Hey guys, sorry for the earlier shift, but would ya mind checkin' out that building for us? Be sneaky about it. If there's people there we don't wanna go scarin' them." Harley pointed to the aforementioned building.

Cacturne turned to face his coordinator and then the house he had been ordered to examine. It was two stories tall and surrounded by a shoulder height stone wall that broken only by a metal gate left ajar in the front of the fence. Cacturne nodded while Banette gave a mock salute and turned to face his partner. Some brief exchanges of their names were heard before Banette's body began to disappear. Within seconds all that was left was his floating zipper smile, until that too faded out of existence.

The scarecrow walked a few steps before stumbling and the sound of half-stifled snickers filled the air. With the utmost calm, Cacturne straightened out, closed his eyes, and raised his arm. Without warning he turned and swung his arm down through the air. Something hit the ground with enough force to make a small crater in the ground. The scarecrow gave a mocking smile and walked away, followed shortly by disembodied grumbles.

Several minutes passed before they heard a familiar but insidious cackle grow louder. Cacturne and a floating smile approached them. Both of them looked totally unscathed, or at least as unscathed as a floating zipper and a living scarecrow-cactus could appear. Harley's starter smiled and lifted his arm with a green spike lifting out of the stub where a hand would be — his approximation of a thumbs-up.

Harley and the others nodded to one another and made their way through the gate. A pair of intact windows flanked the unmarred glass double door entrance. To the left lay a small circular pool of water ringed by cobblestones. Beyond that lay an empty bike rack that leaned against the stone wall.

Drew was the first to make for the door but stopped short when he saw his reflection in the doors. More shocking than his disheveled appearance was Banette's demented smile just over his shoulder. Drew whirled around only to see that there was no one near him. A round of puzzled stares from the others greeted his shocked expression. Turning back to stare at the glass, Banette materialized in the mirror again, this time making faces at him.

"Banette, leave him alone," Harley ordered. Drew's hair ruffled as an invisible breeze blew by him and materialized into the familiar form of the cursed toy. Drew turned and silently thanked Harley with his eyes.

The LaRoussian youth opened the door and was about to enter until Glaceon and Roserade squeezed themselves ahead of him and separated, each taking defensive stances. The coordinator stood in place until Glaceon snorted, mumbling her name to his starter who then beckoned him with her bouquet. Despite the extra measures their pokémon had taken to ensure the house was empty, Drew couldn't help but feel like a criminal.

Something crunched beneath his battered shoes as he moved in and turned the lights on…or attempted to. The inside of the house remained lit only by the fading sunlight. The door was left open for someone else to grab. May held the door for him and moved in next, the scene evoking a soft and saddened sigh from her.

"Why was this place left alone?" Whitney asked, causing the others to throw her puzzled stares.

"You call this left alone?" Harley countered as he moved into the eastern wing of the house, the remnants of a plate crunching underfoot. Like the ruins of an ancient temple, broken plates were scattered around the sink. Those that hadn't shattered on the ground perched precariously atop still more plates. Containers of all sorts, torn open and their contents scattered about littered the floor. The cupboard doors had been flung open — some with such force that they dangled from broken latches. But despite the devastation in the room, the cans within were untouched.

"Whitney's right. I know this place looks like a tornado hit it, but why isn't it…why is this place still standing?" May quickly corrected herself as she joined Harley in the kitchen.

Everyone paused halfway through their motions and looked about the room with newfound curiosity.

"Well, I'm not about to complain. This is a big step up from the cave and the woods," Harley replied, to which the others quietly nodded.

"It says here that this place is a school for Wooper," May said, reading off the dry-erase board hanging by the kitchen entrance.

"Who in their right mind would make a school for Wooper?" Harley's nose wrinkled at the thought.

"I happen to think Wooper are cute," Whitney said, allowing herself to ease into a couch within the western wing of the school.

"Sure, but why would you want to make a school for them? What would you even teach them? Math? Science?" Harley snorted.

"Apparently music and dancing," May replied as she managed to make out one of the activities that hadn't been reduced to a smear on the board.

Harley shook his head in disbelief and stepped outside to meet the party members that had yet to enter. Masquerain hovered a few feet off the ground level with Banette and Cacturne's heads, Harley imagined he was filling them in on what they missed that morning. As soon as the door opened they all shifted to him in unison to face him.

"I think we're gonna bunk down here for the night, so you know the drill, Cacturne," Harley said, to which his starter replied with a nod and went to work. Harley moved back inside just in time to see Drew descend the stairs.

"There's a bed up there but it's small. Whoever lived here did so alone," the LaRoussian said.

"You…you don't think the Wooper…" Whitney let the question hang in the air.

Drew shook his head. "I wanna say no. I wanna say that it's not in their nature to be that way, but after the last few days…I just don't know anymore."

"Wouldn't there be a body?" May asked, her face paling at her own words as the scenario formed in her mind.

"And a smell?" Harley added.

"Right. So unless the Wooper ate them — bones and all, I don't think Wooper killed them," Drew continued. "I also noticed the bike rack along the wall outside is empty. Maybe they took the bike and left. Heck, maybe the Wooper left with them.

"What about the mess, Detective Drew?" Harley gestured towards the kitchen over his shoulder with this thumb.

"Wherever they went, they haven't come back for a while. If the Wooper were left here, then they would've gotten hungry and tried eating anything they could break open. The cans in the cabinets were probably too hard to open without destroying what was inside or they didn't know it had food. If the Wooper had left with their trainer, then wild pokémon could have done the same thing."

Everyone nodded in agreement at his reasoning and moved into the kitchen. Harley went straight to the cupboards, inspecting each can to see if the food was still edible. Whitney opened closets until she found a broom and dustpan and went to work on the mess on the floor. May turned the faucet and quickly felt her smile leave her face when only a mere trickle of water came out.

"Must be all that was left in the pipes." Drew sighed and moved over to the couch and plopped onto it.

"I could kill for a shower," Whitney said, crouching down and brushing as much as she could fit onto the dustpan. "Harley, could you see if there's any trash bags?"

The purple-haired coordinator nodded and bent down, opening cabinets until he eventually found a pack.

"How long do we plan on staying here?" May asked aloud, joining Drew on the couch.

"Tonight and…would a day be okay with you guys?" Drew said.

"With the way things have been; who knows when we'll have a roof over our heads again?" Harley pointed out. Minutes of silence ensued, with only the sound of porcelain clinking together to fill the void of conversation.

"So who sleeps where?" May asked.

Harley immediately wanted to interject that he would get the bed since he was the cook but something in him reeled the comment back in before it ever passed his lips.

When no one moved to speak, Drew broke the silence. "Well, there's two couches so…Harley and I could take those and maybe you and Whitney could share the bed?" Harley wanted to tell Drew he shouldn't speak for other people, but opted to say nothing.

"Would you be okay with that, Whitney?" May asked.

The former Goldenrod gym leader nodded.

"I guess that's settled," Drew said and started making his way to the door.

"Where're you going?" May asked.

"I think I have an idea of how we could get washed up"

"I would love that." Whitney exhaled and handed him a white trash bag of broken plates and dirt.

* * *

It was night by the time Drew called for them to come outside. He had forbidden them from coming or looking outside while they cleaned up the upper floors. While tempted, they held to their word that they wouldn't and when he asked for a few of their pokémon, they gave him the pokéballs without question.

The air outside the house was thick with a warm mist and a sweet scent perfumed the air. Large opaque panels of light encircled the pond, each crowned with blue flames that created enough light to see the buildings from lawn. At the center of the pond, half buried in the water, lay a larger blue flame that burned so intensely that it seemed unreal. A path of red rose petals floated atop the water's surface and trailed from the edge of the pool to the front door of the school.

Drew bowed his head and extended his arm to the scene, lifting his head briefly to see the girls staring wide-eyed and mouths agape. They stood there for another few seconds, frozen in shock to the point where Drew began to worry that he had actually broken them.

"Drew…I…you shouldn't ha…" May struggled to speak, but the sight of everything in front of her was making it difficult for her brain to put words together. The green-haired youth nearly had the air squeezed out of him when May embraced him. Drew stiffened beneath her touch but softened and returned the embrace.

"It looked like you two needed this," Drew said as May pulled away from the hug.

"How did you do all of this?" May asked as she began to recover from the sight.

"It was actually pretty simple but time consuming. Harley's Octillery boiled the water away and burnt up any debris inside Then May's Blastoise washed it down and refilled it with clean water while Banette's Will O' Wisp heated it up and kept it warm. Your Clefable provided the Light Screens and my Masquerain made the mist and mixed it with a bit of Sweet Scent for added privacy and comfort."

"Drew, this was incredibly sweet. You didn't have to go to all the trouble," Whitney added. Despite her words she looked like she was practically salivating to have a dip in the water.

"May already knows I pride myself in presentation. I guess hospitality and coordinating aren't all too different."

"And the rose petals?" Whitney smirked, grabbing a handful and letting them fall through her fingers.

"Courtesy of Roserade." Drew smiled.

"They're his signature," May was practically beaming. "Isn't that right Mr. Rose?"

"Mr. Rose." Drew sighed with disdain, his starter taking the opportunity to happily cry out her name in approval at the title. May and Whitney let themselves have a laugh and sighed at the sight of Drew's efforts.

"Cacturne, Banette, and Clefable will be nearby so that nothing bothers you and Harley specifically ordered Banette to leave you alone or to have Cacturne use any means necessary to stop him."

The tension from the mention of Harley's ghost pokémon eased from their shoulders at the last tidbit of info.

"You should be able to walk through the panels them without a problem. Don't worry about the fire, Harley told me that it'll only emit heat on what Banette wants it to heat, which in this case is the water. If you need anything just give Clefable a shout and she'll see what she can do. I'll be inside cooking with Harley." Drew opened the door and closed it behind him as he entered the kitchen.

Whitney and May looked at each other and smiled as they eagerly moved towards their newly made bath. May pressed her hand against the Light Screen and reveled in the odd sensation upon her hand. She watched it as her palm pressed against the screen, the skin flattening against the luminous wall but allowing her hand to slowly pass through.

"Light Screen's meant to dampen special attacks. It doesn't actually stop them but the screen acts like a filter that weakens the attack before it connects with the pokémon," Whitney said, pushing her arm through the wall of light.

She was already starting to undress by the time May had pushed her way through the barriers. Whatever modesty she once had was forgotten with the promise of a warm soak after a week of not bathing. She dipped her toe into the water and was unable to hold back a moan.

"That good huh?" May asked and started undressing faster when Whitney frantically nodded in response. Goldenrod's gym leader slowly immersed herself deeper and deeper into the water. All sense of moderation and quiet was lost as she reveled in the sensual warmth. The water was up to her chin by the time she reached the stony bottom of the pool.

"You need to try this." Whitney sighed, her body and mind feeling like they were melting from the all-encompassing warmth. She peeled an eye open to see if May had joined her yet, but the sight of the other girl quickly stole some of the euphoria she was feeling.

"May?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah?" the brunette replied, placing her neatly folded bandana onto the rest of her clothing.

"How…how old are you?" Whitney's disbelieving eyes landed on a particular feature of May's anatomy.

"Thirteen." May laid down the last article and turned to face the gym leader. "Why?"

"Oh…no reason," the pinkette muttered beneath her breath and looked away, letting herself sink another inch until the water's surface was just under her nose. Whitney was blowing bubbles by the time May elected to jump into the pool. Some of the water splashed out but Whitney was too bothered with other matters to comment on it. May's head slowly broke the surface and then the rest of her body followed.

"You were right Whitney. This is heaven." May sighed, opening her eyes to see Whitney glaring at her. "Is…something wrong?"

"N-no…nothing," The normal type gym leader said, her hands reflexively moving to hide her modest chest. The Light Screens shimmered as Clefable entered their midst with a bar of soap and pink loofah in hand.

"Thanks Clefable," May said as she accepted the items from the fairy and watched her grab their clothes and disappear back beyond the barriers.

"May…"

"Hmm?" The coordinator hummed back as she lathered up her arm.

"So are you and Drew dating yet?"

May's hand suddenly clenched, sending the soap bar rocketing into the air and splashing down into the water after several flustered attempts at catching it. A small, cruel smile formed on Whitney's lips, hidden beneath the shifting surface of the water.

"W-why do you ask?" May feigned innocence, trying her best to look like she was actively searching for the soap with her foot.

"Come on, May. You really think he'd go this far? The Sweet Scent, the rose petals?"

"Drew's a nice guy. He always like around girls. He not doing it because of any…you know…I'm gonna go find the soap," May hastily said before diving into the water.

Whitney smiled at how easy it was to press the younger girl's buttons. "_She has to come up for air eventually_," she thought to herself. She smirked as she hefted the bar of soap that May was looking for. It was a solid minute before the girl actually surfaced, her face still red enough to practically raise the water's temperature another few degrees.

"Looking for this?" Whitney said as she waved the bar of soap. May pouted but said nothing, taking the soap back when it was handed to her.

"Drew is…a rival," she finally said, blushing fiercely but swelling with pride from her answer, as if it explained everything Whitney needed to know about them.

"_She had a minute under water and that's what she came up with_?" Whitney shook her head at the lame explanation. "Yeah, but I've never seen a rival go this far for someone. If you aren't dating him then why aren't you? You said the two of you had known each other for years. He clearly has a thing for you and he'd have to be blind or stupid to not see you feel the same."

"Is it really that obvious?" May's voice rose another octave before she meekly shrank back into the water.

"A bit. But it's cute, and anyone that goes _this_ far to make you happy is a keeper in my book."

"Now just doesn't seem like the right time. Things are complicated right now and I don't want to get together with him just because we think the world might be ending."

"I can respect that. Just don't make him wait too long or you might lose him."

"I was thinking I could try that with him when this is all over and we're in Hoenn," May said.

Whitney nodded and remained silent, lifting her gaze to the night sky above. "For all our sakes, I hope there is an over for this situation," she muttered.

* * *

Clefable hopped over to the right side of the house where three fully evolved starters and her teammate waited for her.

"How are they?" Blaziken asked, taking the piles of clothes from her and handing the unfolded articles to Blastoise.

"Enjoying themselves and…" Clefable paused, her ears wiggling briefly before she continued. "Now they're talking about your coordinator potentially starting a courtship ritual with Roserade's coordinator."

Blaziken briefly traded glances with Blastoise and Venusaur.

"I think it's sweet. Banette tells me those two have known each other for a couple of cycles," Clefable added.

"We're not opposed to it, it's just…wait? Banette told you? What else did he tell you?" Blaziken's eyes narrowed.

"Only the truth," Banette interjected from behind the group, causing everyone to flinch and turn around. The haunted toy hung from the other side of the stone wall, his head nestled atop his crossed arms.

"'Ello neighbors," Banette kept his arms crossed but wiggled one of his hands in a halfhearted wave. "You're all out awfully late. Don'cha all got bed times or somethin'?"

"Trust me, we won't be up for long," Blaziken deadpanned.

"Oh good. Wouldn't want you to lose your beauty sleep. Yer still a growin' boy. If you don't rest how else are ya gonna grow up to be a big kung pow chicken?"

"I'm already in my final stage. I don't think I could evolve further." Blaziken then realized who he was talking to.

"Give it a rest Bane. Can't you bother Cacturne?" Miltank scolded.

"I would if the jerk hadn't shoved giant spikes into his ears. How can he live his life to the fullest if he can't hear my voice?" Banette replied with a smirk.

"He'll find a way, I'm sure." Venusaur sighed.

"So in the meantime, I'll just grace you with my presence. Sooooo, watcha doin?"

"If you must know, Drew asked us if we could clean their clothes," Blaziken replied as he handed Blastoise an article of clothing.

Banette scoffed. "Seriously!? Chores! I will never get why humans can't just go around like us. I mean, the girls are over there chatting it up in the buff and they seem okay with it."

Clefable's eyes hardened. "Bane, Harley told you to stay away from—"

"Relax, I know the restraining order is still in effect, doesn't mean I can't watch'em from the skies. I need to be within a certain range of the Will O' Wisps for them to function. Unless you want their bath water to get cold. Still, it's kinda boring when you can't hear anything though. Which is why I came here."

"How did we get so lucky?" Venusaur mumbled, extending her vines so Blaziken could hang the wet clothes on them.

"Guys, level with me. Isn't doing any of this feel like…I dunno, beneath you?"

"What do you mean?" Blastoise paused before the latest article he'd been given, unsure if he was looking at a white and red cap or a mask.

"I mean, me and Cacturne hav—"

"—You mean 'Cacturne and I'," Clefable interjected.

"Uh, no. Not you. You're not part of the duo. So rude. Like I was saying. _Me_ and Cacturne have guard duty. We're fighters and we work fine at night so that's what we're good at, but this—" Banette motioned at Blaziken who was drying May's clothes with the fire from his wrists.

"I don't see it that way," Blaziken replied, making sure the flames from his wrists weren't too close to her clothes as to not singe them.

"And how do you see it then oh, Glorious Leader?"

"I think I wouldn't even be here or this strong if it weren't for her. So doing little things like this is the least I can do."

"You don't think you could've made it this far on your own?" Banette asked.

"Honestly? No. I don't. I wouldn't have been to the places I've seen, learned the things I've learned and fought the opponents I've met without May."

Blastoise, Venusaur, and Miltank all nodded in agreement.

"Are you saying you could've made it this far on your own, Banette?" Clefable shot back.

"Well, yeah. Sure, Harley's taught me a few things but I learned a lot of my stuff out there in the wild. I was already in this sexy form when Harley caught me." Banette quickly struck a pose as if to show off his figure. He held the pose for a few seconds before letting his body slump, the smile on his face shifting into a frown.

He disappeared from view and did so quietly. For a moment Clefable considered that Banette laughed and snickered when he was invisible so that people knew he was around. Not doing so made his ability unnerving. None of them having any idea if he was still among them and hiding or truly gone.

"Did that seem weird to any of you?" Clefable asked aloud.

"Maybe we reminded him of something he didn't want to remember," Blaziken replied as he continued drying May's clothes. "He'll be okay, he's gone through a lot but he's tough."

"Speaking of, how's that leg?" Miltank asked, already motioning to grab the aforementioned limb until her patient hopped away from her.

"It's fine as long as you don't touch it!"

"I'm just checking on you. I heard some stuff happened earlier with a cave." Miltank motioned towards Blastoise as he finished soaking Whitney's shorts with a gentle burst from his cannons.

"I've been meaning to ask you guys something," Blastoise announced, garnering a number of stares.

"What's on your mind?"

"When you guys evolved how did you deal with all the changes? I mean, I'm tall now which is different considering I always remember having to look up at most of you. I guess I feel powerful, even if these turret thingies on my shoulders will take some getting used to.

"But there's a few things I miss from my last form. Like having a tail and while I can't really see it, you guys tell me it's small and stubby. Not to mention how slow I feel, all the agility and grace I used to have is gone now. May's gonna hafta rethink a lot of my old strategies if we ever go back to doing contests.

"I feel like if I had known I was gonna turn out like this…I don't know if I would've gone through with it. I wanted to be more powerful for so long, so when I felt the power building up, I just went with it. Now I don't know if this was all just a mistake." The water starter motioned at his rotund body while the others nodded and gave a hum of understanding.

"I guess I'm the last person to tell you how to adjust. When I evolved into this form, I was faster and stronger than I ever was as a Combusken, but maybe..." Blaziken turned to face the other fully evolved starter in their midst.

"It'll take some adjusting, War...well I guess calling you Blast would be more appropriate now, or would you still prefer Squirt?" Venusaur replied.

"Maybe Big Squirt?" Clefable chimed in with a giggle. She watched Blastoise shake his head at the nickname.

"Would it be weird if I still wanted you all to call me War or Wartortle?" Blastoise asked.

"There's only one of us that would eventually mind: you. Even if we called you by that name, you'd know that you weren't the same," Venusaur replied.

Blastoise sighed and bowed his head, handing another drenched piece of clothing to Blaziken. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Chin up. You having this form is not a mistake. There's plenty of ways to make use of your bulk. Even if you feel slow, it doesn't mean that you are. No one really thinks that someone as big as me could be fast, but that's until they've seen me jump. It'll be a while, but you'll start feeling comfortable in your own skin." Venusaur's smile was soon joined by the others in the group.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Blaziken chuckled, hanging the last piece of May's clothing on the grass starter's vine.

* * *

Enough time had elapsed as Cacturne leaned against the wall that be began to survey the area around him. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary he lifted his arms, pressing the stubs against his head, reabsorbing the spikes he had planted over his ears. No longer did the world of night feel muted and muffled. Sounds rushed back into his awareness and reminded him that the nocturnal realm had its own soundtrack.

He watched Drew set the table while Harley trailed behind him, laying out the portions of each meal on a plate. Whitney and May had returned from their bath, wearing their recently washed and dried clothes. Once the meal was over, Drew and Harley would have their turn at the bath and they would turn in for the night. A smile slowly crept up Cacturne's face at the sight of his own coordinator joking, laughing and smiling.

It reminded him of a happiness that wasn't bound to them surviving another day or hinged on the success of a contest. It was a happiness that he hadn't felt in a long time and one that he had almost forgotten.

"So are you and Rosy finally gonna pollinate?" Banette whispered. Cacturne's smile withered and died on his face, as he silently debated how to phrase his next response in a way that couldn't be used against him.

"Why do you ask?" he replied.

"You're smiling a bunch, so I just figured…"

"I was simply enjoying the silence. There's also other reasons to smile, Bane."

"Like?" The haunted toy pressed Cacturne for more juicy details.

"Harley," Cacturne replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh my." The ghost snorted, attempting — and failing — to stifle a laugh behind a hand.

"Not like that, idiot! I mean I'm happy that he's happy!" The cactus groaned.

"I guess he has been smiling a lot lately." Banette then raised a hand into the air. "Wait! Did he get lai—"

"No! He's happy because he's cooking for the others."

"Weird thing to be happy for but I figure he'll make a beautiful bride."

Cacturne closed his eyes and pressed a stub to his face, dragging it slowly down as he shook his head. "Why do I try?" he muttered. "It's not the cooking that makes him happy." As the words left his mouth, he wondered why he was even bothering in the first place.

"Oh?" was Banette's simple reply, his interest already piqued.

"It's…something that he's had ever since I've known him."

Banette's signature smile gradually dissolved, his crimson eyes softened. Despite his love of black humor, his crass and generally irreverent nature, he knew when to stop and be serious. "You've been with him the longest, right?" Banette's voice was soft and subdued — a dramatic change from his usual raucous tone.

"Yeah. I was his first pokémon." Banette watched Cacturne's golden eyes lift into the night sky, as if looking for something among the stars. "Harley's dad was never around."

"Neither was mine."

"You don't have parents." Cacturne groaned.

"Technically speaking—"

"Bane." Cacturne's voice was sharp and harsh.

"All right, all right! Keep going."

Red met gold for a few seconds until Cacturne was sure he would not be interrupted again. "Harley never talked about his dad and I never saw him in all the time I spent with Harley in Slateport."

"He had his mom though, right?" Banette asked.

"Yeah…" The word came out in an elongated murmur.

"She was a bitch?"

"She was…" Cacturne trailed off as he tried to find the appropriate words. "…She cared about him, in her own way. She was always hard on him. Before she settled down and raised him, she was apparently quite the coordinator. She always expected excellence and didn't take anything less."

"Might be why Dad left," Banette replied. It could've been a joke, but his tone was devoid of humor.

"Could be. Harley wasn't exactly what you would call a tough kid."

"Ya don't say," Banette deadpanned. "So, where do you come in?"

"It was around his tenth birthday that his mom went out and caught me in a neighboring desert. I was his gift that day."

"Not to be mean, but…why you?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you. I know I'm not what everyone wants as their starter but it didn't really matter though. Harley and I hit it off from the start and I think I was his first real friend. Harley told me everything about his life. His secrets, his hopes, dreams, and even his fears."

Banette stared at him with a look of understanding and a gentle smile, as if he'd already heard the story before. "Is that why he dresses like you?"

"I'd be as sane as you if I thought that wasn't a factor," Cacturne paused for a moment, expecting a sarcastic reply but found himself surprised at Banette letting the jab at his mental health slide. "When he set off to be a coordinator, it wasn't easy. More often than not, we failed the appeal round. It came to the point where Harley started to wonder whether or not he was even cut out for this."

"I know there's a happy ending to this, but I'll bite. Why didn't he quit?"

"Where would he go if he did? He was scared to go back home and disappoint his mother. He figured any achievement outside of coordinating wouldn't be enough to impress her. So we prepared and managed to make it past the appeals round and when we reached the final match, I evolved into this form and helped him win his first ribbon.

"It was then that I realized something about him. The victory is why he cares so much about contests and cooking. It's not so much egomania as it is hunger for praise. He never really got any praise from his mom. But when he's on the stage, the eyes of the audience are all on him. Their cheers, their praise — they give his life meaning. You've seen him. He hates to share the spotlight and if it's taken from him, he feels that his very existence is being invalidated."

"That's a little much don't you think?" Banette asked.

Cacturne shook his head. "To us maybe, but to him...it's practically his life. Harley's proud of the things he believes he can do well. I was there when he first met May. He was offering her one of the cookies that he had baked. When she said that they weren't half bad…" He trailed off, letting Banette finish the thought.

"So that's why he put her in his little black book."

"But when we enjoy the pokeblocks or the meals he gives us or when people enjoy his cooking or performances, there's a glow about him." Cacturne motioned to the window again. Banette nodded and watched quietly, leaving the Nocturne pokemon even more surprised when the haunted toy had no witty remark or snide retort to add to the scene.

* * *

Drew pushed away from the table and eased himself back into his chair with a satisfied sigh. The others were in various phases of finishing their meal, trying to not leave a single scrap of food behind but stopping just short of licking the plate clean. With no electricity, they had to make do with the scented candles the home's previous owner had stowed away in the bathroom. A dozen candles surrounded them, each of them alight with blue flames — courtesy of Banette — that flickered quietly as they ate. While it wasn't enough to illuminate the entire room, it was enough to let them see each other and where their food was.

"I've gotta admit, you've really outdone yourself this time Harley," Drew said as he patted his stomach.

"He's right. Thank you so much for the meal Harley, it was amazing," Whitney added, resting her silverware on the table. She and May wore white bathrobes that they had found in the upstairs bathroom and deduced that whoever ran the Wooper daycare had to have been a woman.

"I just had the right ingredients, that all," Harley replied bashfully, grateful for the praise and failing miserably at hiding it.

"Was it really okay for us to eat this much food?" May's words betrayed the look of utter bliss on her face.

"If I'd made a regular meal then there would've been a lot left over and that means more to carry when we head out," Harley replied.

The sobering reality of the coming morning brought about a wave of stillness over the room. Eating their fill, the hot bath, the sense of safety and security were not things that they wanted to lose so quickly. While it was only a week after they had gone without these common amenities, it might as well have been years after everything they had gone through.

"Let's just say we wanted to stay here longer. How much food do we have where we could safely do that?" Drew asked sheepishly.

Harley's demeanor immediately soured at the Drew's question. Whatever happiness he'd derived from the compliments about his cooking quickly dissolved. "Enough for a few days to be here and be on the road for at least another few. I'd wager a week if we ration it out right." Harley's reply was stiff, matching his posture at the table.

He then continued. "What do you mean by 'we'? Was there a vote or something I wasn't a part of?"

"Can you blame us for not wanting to go right back out there?" Drew shot back, a tinge of acid building up in his voice. "We've been doing nothing but running for the last week! Now that we found a place where we can finally rest and feel safe you want to leave immediately!?"

"I get that you wanna stay here. I do, but I can't stay here forever."

"We're not asking to stay here forever. We just need a few days to regain our strength."

"Days? You wanna stay here for _days_!? And do what?" Harley snapped.

"I dunno Harley." Drew's words oozed venom. "Maybe we could try resting. You know, not having to look over our shoulders every few seconds and worrying that something might jump out and try to kill us." Drew was now standing out of his seat. May expected Harley to do the same but found herself surprised when he remained seated and gently put down his silverware on his plate.

"If that's what the rest of you want, then fine. We could stay here and do nothing. Our pokémon could stand guard the entire time and keep us safe. It sounds really appealing but I know that I won't be able to relax here, at least not fully. I'll still be thinking about Slateport and my mom. I'm gonna worry about whether or not she's still alive or if my home city even still exists. I want to find the closest working video phone and give my mom a call and I can't do that here." Harley jabbed at the table with his finger on the last few words. Whitney could tell he was struggling to keep his voice low and even. From where she sat she could see his other hand gripping the fabric of his pants beneath the table.

"If that thought doesn't keep you up or bother then I guess I'm jealous." Harley's voice and eyes were cold as he quietly got up from his chair and left the table to grab some plates and the remaining food in the pot and went outside.

Drew, Whitney, and May sat quietly, being sure to not make eye contact with one another all the while.

"I'll take care of the dishes," May said in an attempt to break the suffocating silence as she started gathering the plates.

"Let me help you with that," Drew added immediately and started doing the same with the silverware.

"I'm gonna go check on him," Whitney announced as she made for the door without checking to see how May and Drew reacted.

Whitney didn't have to walk far to find Harley on the side of the house, serving what was left of their meal to their joint party. She found herself smiling as she watched Blaziken grab his plate normally and eat while Venusaur held her plate aloft with her vines before pouring all of its contents into her mouth.

Harley was smiling again, his grin growing wider with every serving he handed out and even more when the pokémon started asking for seconds.

"You know we found some pokémon food in the kitchen," Whitney said to make her presence known.

"I know," Harley replied. While he didn't turn back to face her she couldn't find any of the earlier bitterness in his voice.

"This kind of meal is best eaten right after it's made. I guess we could get May's Glaceon to make ice and refrigerate it and we can have it later but it will never taste quite as good. I figured after what happened today that our pokémon deserve something a little better than the same pokémon food they get every day."

Whitney saw the logic in that and hummed in agreement, flinching when several pokéballs suddenly burst open with a flash of white light and released the remainder of their joint party. Cacturne hopped over the fence and waited in line behind Miltank and Banette and hovered just behind him.

"They're doing so much for us and lately we've been doing so little in return. I won't always be able to cook like this when we're on the road so they can snack on the pokémon food then, but until then, I want to be able to give a little back," Harley replied, turning to face May's Munchlax who was holding up his plate for a third serving, one that the costumed coordinator reluctantly gave him.


End file.
